Employment Insurance – Information for employers

We're providing additional information to help employers issue ROEs for employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you have employees who stopped working because of COVID-19, you must issue their ROEs within the set timeframe.

Block 16 - Reason for issuing this ROE

Block 16 should indicate the reason for the employee's leave or separation from employment, or the reason why the ROE is being issued. Don't add comments unless absolutely necessary.

When the employee is no longer working because the business has decreased operations or closed due to COVID-19, use code A (shortage of work).

When the employee is sick or quarantined, use code D (illness or injury).

COVID-19 vaccination

When the employee doesn't report to work because they refuse to comply with your mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, use code E (quit) or code N (leave of absence).

When you suspend or terminate an employee for not complying with your mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, use code M (dismissal or suspension).

If you use these codes, we may contact you to determine:

• if you had adopted and clearly communicated to all employees a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy
• if the employees were informed that failure to comply with the policy would result in loss of employment
• if the application of the policy to the employee was reasonable within the workplace context
• if there were any exemptions for refusing to comply with the policy

If you paid your employees with the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), only issue ROEs for those who had an interruption of earnings when the CEWS ended.

If your employees were still off work when their CEWS ended, they could apply for EI benefits. If they did, we used their ROEs to determine if they qualified for EI benefits. It’s important that the ROE accurately reported all earnings, including the CEWS, and all hours worked.

Employees who were in insurable employment before receiving CEWS continued to be in insurable employment once in receipt of the CEWS, if that was the only thing that changed. This remained true even if the employee was not working while receiving the CEWS. For information on insurability, contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Block 15A – Total insurable hours

Block 15A should equal the number of insurable hours the employee would normally have worked before receiving the CEWS.

Employee off work

Whether an employee continued to receive a full salary or a partial salary while off work, the number of insurable hours for the period of leave doesn't change. The number of insurable hours equals the number of hours the employee would normally have accumulated if they had been working during this time.^{Footnote 1}

Block 15C – Insurable earnings by pay period

Block 15C should equal the total amount paid to the employee in each pay period, including any CEWS received.^{Footnote 2}

Examples

• Your employee was paid their normal salary, with 75% coming from the CEWS and 25% from you. Because the full amount is insurable, enter this amount in Block 15C
• Your employee was paid 75% of their normal salary, all of which came from the CEWS. The 75% is insurable. Enter this amount in Block 15C