Block 6: The Pay Period Type
In this block, employers would need to enter the pay period type for the employee. It is worth mentioning that there are five standard types of pay periods such as:
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Semi-monthly
- Monthly or,
- Thirteen pay periods in a year
In some cases, employers might find that their semi-monthly or monthly pay periods are non-standard. As such, such pay periods will probably not end on the fifteenth or last day of the month. In this scenario, the employers would need to enter ‘non-standard semi-monthly’ or ‘non-standard monthly’ in this block.
Special Situations
The authorities have prescribed certain ways for dealing with special situations. These situations would typically involve cases where:
- The employees would receive payments solely on commission or on salary plus irregularly paid commission
- In this scenario, the employers would need to use a weekly pay period
- In addition, they would need to average the earnings over the period of employment covered by the Record of Employment (ROE)
- For more details, employers would need to refer to the notes given in the section titled ‘How to Use the Weekly Averaging Formula’
- Contract workers do not receive payments on a regular basis
- In this scenario, the employers would need to use a weekly pay period
- In addition, they would need to average the earnings over the period of employment covered by the Record of Employment (ROE)
- For more details, employers would need to refer to the notes given in the section titled ‘How to Use the Weekly Averaging Formula’
- Employees work irregular pay periods
- Some employees might be working irregular pay periods
- In such cases, the pay cycles would typically vary in length, where one period could cover 29 days and the next could cover 32 days
- In this scenario, the employers would need to use a weekly pay period
- In addition, they would need to average the earnings over the period of employment covered by the Record of Employment (ROE)
- For more details, employers would need to refer to the notes given in the section titled ‘How to Use the Weekly Averaging Formula’
Example: Consider a situation where Monica works for an employer that has irregular pay periods. In such a situation, one pay period could cover 25 days, the next could cover 29 days and another could cover 35 days. In this scenario, the employer would need to enter weekly as the pay period type in Block 6. Thereafter, the employer would need to average the earnings over the period of employment by using the weekly averaging formula.
Note:
- The authorities require that a Record of Employment (ROE) should reflect only one pay period type
- In some cases, the employer might need to change the pay period type during an employee’s period of employment
- In this scenario, the employer would need to issue the Record of Employment (ROE) for the period of employment up to the change in the pay period type
- Employers would need to issue a second Record of Employment (ROE) for the rest of the employee’s period of employment until the interruption of earnings in case an interruption of earnings occurs subsequently
- In the second Record of Employment (ROE), the employer would need to enter the date of the first day after the pay period change in Block 10
- Similarly, in the second Record of Employment (ROE), the employer would need to enter the date of the last day for which paid in Block 11
Block 7: The Employer’s Postal Code
In this block, the employer would need to enter the employer’s postal code.
Block 8: The Employee’s Social Insurance Number (SIN)
The employer would need to enter the employee’s nine digit Social Insurance Number (SIN) in this block. The authorities accord immense importance to enter the correct Social Insurance Number (SIN) on the Record of Employment (ROE). This is because the authorities would not be able to process a claim for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits without this number.
Note:
- It is worth highlighting that Social Insurance Numbers (SINs) that begin with a 9 are temporary numbers
- As such, employers would need to check with their employees to confirm if they have since received permanent numbers
- In case the employees have received permanent numbers, the employers would need to enter the permanent numbers in this block
Block 9: The Employee’s Name and Address
The employer would need to enter the employee’s name and the employee’s address that they have on file in this block. To enter the employee’s name, the employer would need to write the first name and the initials, followed by the family name. For entering the employee’s address, the employer would need to specify the postal code as well.
Block 10: The First Day Worked
In Block 10, the employer would usually need to enter the employee’s first day of work for which the employee has received insurable earnings. In some cases though, the employer might have issued a Record of Employment (ROE) for the employee previously. In this scenario, the employer would need to enter the first day the employee worked after the last interruption of earnings in Block 10. This date would usually be the first day that the employee worked since the last Record of Employment (ROE) issued by the employer.
For instance, consider a situation where Bill began working for an employer in March 2015 as a landscaper. In November 2015, the employer completed the Record of Employment (ROE) for Bill as the employer closes the business each year for the winter months. On March 15, 2016, Bill returned to work for the same employer. As such, in November 2016, the employer would need to complete the latest Record of Employment (ROE) for Bill. Hence, the employer would need to specify 15 March, 2016, as the first day that Bill worked in Block 10.
Note:
- It is worth highlighting that the date the employer enters in Block 10 is not necessarily the day the employer hired the employee
- This is especially so unless the employee happened to work on that day
- As such, the first day worked would need to be a day when the employee worked and received insurable earnings
- In some cases, the employer might plan to pay the employee for a statutory holiday that occurs prior to the employee’s first day of work
- In this scenario, the employer would need to call the Employer Contact Centre at 1-800-367-5693 (TTY: 1-855-881-9874) to obtain additional details on how to report such incidents