During this very difficult time, many companies will very soon suffer cash flow issues.

If your company is concerned about this and needs to temporarily lay off employees, it’s important to ensure that the ROE is properly prepared so that it is processed quickly.

Please find below the latest Service Canada instructions:

If your employee is sick or quarantined due to COVID-19, enter in Box 16 – Reason for issuing this ROE: “Code D – Illness or injury”.

If your employee stops working due to shortage of work or shutdown due to COVID-19, enter in Box 16 – Reason for issuing this ROE: “Code A – Shortage of work”.

If your employee is not working due to other COVID-19 related reasons, enter in Box 16 – Reason for issuing this ROE: “Code E: Quit” or “Code N: Leave of absence”.

NB: In any case, do not add comments. Comments should be added only when absolutely necessary. Adding comments causes the ROE to be pulled from the automatic processing queue for review by a Service Canada agent, thus slowing down the process.

May this economic crisis pass quickly but rest assured if you have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me for help.