ROE Insurable Hours and Earnings Calculator
A Record of Employment has to go in quickly and the deadline depends on how you file, not on a single five-day rule. Work out the hours for Block 15A, the earnings for 15B and 15C, your actual due date, and what still has to be paid out.
insurable hours
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What Goes in Each Block
| Block | What It Asks For | On Your Figures |
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Block 15C, Period by Period
| Period | Insurable Earnings | Running Total |
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Final Pay Checklist
| Item | Amount | Where It Goes |
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Points That Decide This
What to Do Next
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Disclaimer: This page produces an illustrative estimate from the figures you enter and is not a completed Record of Employment, a payroll calculation, or advice on a particular separation. A Record of Employment must be issued when an interruption of earnings occurs, and the information required in each block, including insurable hours and insurable earnings, is governed by the Employment Insurance Act and its regulations and by the instructions Service Canada publishes for completing the form; those instructions are the authority and must be followed. Insurable hours are the hours for which a person actually worked and received insurable earnings, which is not always the same as hours paid; particular rules apply where exact hours are not known, where work is paid other than by the hour, and to statutory holidays, paid leave, standby and overtime, and this page simply multiplies the figures you provide. Insurable earnings and the periods to be reported in Block 15C depend on the pay period type and on the rules in force, and amounts are allocated to the periods in which they were earned rather than when they were paid, which this page does not model. Vacation pay, statutory holiday pay, termination pay in lieu of notice, severance or retiring allowances and bonuses are reported in specific blocks according to those instructions, and whether a particular amount is insurable, and in which period it belongs, depends on its character and the circumstances of the separation; entering an amount here does not determine its treatment. The maximum yearly insurable earnings figure is set annually and the weekly cap field is left at zero by default rather than populated with a figure that may be out of date. The deadline for issuing a Record of Employment depends on whether it is filed electronically or on paper and, for electronic filing, on the pay period type; the periods indicated here are general and must be confirmed against the current Service Canada requirements. Failure to issue a Record of Employment as required, or issuing one containing false or misleading information, can attract penalties. Employment standards obligations on termination, including notice, termination pay and severance where applicable, arise separately under provincial legislation and are not determined by this page; whether a dismissal is lawful and what is owed on it are legal questions. This page is general information, not payroll, employment or legal advice.
There Is No Single Five-Day Rule
This is the thing most employers get wrong, and it matters because the penalty for late issuing is real. The deadline depends on how you file.
Filing on paper runs on one clock, measured from the interruption of earnings. Filing electronically runs on a different one, tied to the end of the pay period in which the interruption falls, and how long you get depends on whether you pay weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly.
Which means the honest answer to “how long have I got” is: it depends, and you should check. An employer on monthly pay filing electronically has a materially different window from one on paper, and assuming five days for everything is how a late filing happens despite good intentions.
Insurable Hours Are Hours Worked, Not Hours Paid
Block 15A asks for insurable hours, and the instinct is to take the salary and divide. That is not what the block asks.
Insurable hours are the hours for which the person actually worked and received insurable earnings. For a salaried employee with regular hours that is usually straightforward. Where someone is paid by commission, by the piece, or on a salary with no recorded hours, there are specific rules for arriving at a figure, and guessing is not one of them.
| Situation | Where the hours come from |
|---|---|
| Hourly employee with timesheets | The records, directly |
| Salaried with regular hours | Contract hours actually worked |
| Paid by commission or piece | Specific rules apply |
| No hours recorded at all | Specific rules apply, and records should exist |
15B and 15C Are Different Questions
Block 15B is the total insurable earnings in the final pay period. Block 15C is the breakdown by pay period going back, and the number of periods you report depends on how often you pay.
The part people miss is allocation. Amounts belong in the period in which they were earned, not the period in which they happened to be paid. A bonus paid in the final cheque for work done over the previous year does not all belong in the final period.
That allocation question is the single most common source of error on an ROE. This page totals what you enter against the periods you tell it, which is a starting point rather than an answer where there are bonuses, retroactive pay or banked time involved.
Vacation Pay and Severance Go in Their Own Blocks
Paying everything out in one final cheque is normal. Reporting it as one number is wrong. Vacation pay, statutory holiday pay, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance each have their own place on the form, and whether an amount is insurable depends on what it actually is.
Getting this wrong does not usually produce a penalty. It produces a benefit decision based on incorrect information, which lands on the former employee and then comes back as a question to you.
The Reason Code Is Not a Negotiating Position
Block 16 asks why the record is being issued, and it should state what actually happened. An employer who records a dismissal as a shortage of work to be kind, or a resignation as a dismissal to avoid an argument, has put incorrect information on a federal form.
Where the circumstances are genuinely contested, the answer is to describe them accurately rather than to choose the code that produces the outcome someone wants. Issuing a record containing false or misleading information carries its own exposure.
Whether a dismissal was lawful and what is owed on it are separate questions entirely. They are employment law questions under provincial legislation, they are not resolved by the reason code, and a contested termination is worth legal advice before the final cheque is issued rather than after.
Do Not Delay the Record Because the Pay Is Disputed
A common and expensive instinct: hold the ROE until the final amounts are agreed. The obligation to issue it is not conditional on the money being settled, and the former employee cannot claim benefits without it.
Where an amount is genuinely unresolved, the record is issued on the information available and amended if the position changes. That is the designed route, and it is better than a late filing.
What This Calculator Does Not Do
- Complete the form, which follows the official instructions
- Allocate amounts to the right periods, which depends on when they were earned
- Decide whether an amount is insurable, which turns on its character
- Apply the hours rules for commission or unrecorded work
- Calculate employment standards entitlements on termination
- Confirm the current deadline, which you should check
If this is the first separation the business has handled, it is worth a call. Our ROE preparation service covers the blocks, the allocation and the filing, and the ROE guide walks through the form itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions on records of employment.
Related Calculators and Guides
More on payroll and separations.
Get the Record Filed Properly and On Time
Send us the employment dates, the pay history and what is being paid out. We will work through the blocks, the allocation and the filing, and flag anything in the separation that looks like it needs legal advice rather than payroll work.