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Human Resources Issues:
Self-Employment and
Employer Initiatives
Employment Insurance and the
New Record of Employment Form
Canada's new Employment Insurance (EI) system has been designed to simplify the payroll administration and reporting requirements of employers, service bureaus and software developers.

The major change that affects small business employers is the elimination of the concept of minimum and maximum weekly insurable earnings. Starting January 1, 1997, for premium-withholding purposes, an annual maximum for insurable earnings replaced the weekly maximum. For the years 1997 to 2000, this annual maximum is $39 000.

Under the new insurable earnings and collection of premium regulations, employers have to withhold EI premiums only until they reach the annual maximum. At that point, employers can stop withholding EI premiums. For example, an employee earning $1000 a week will reach the maximum insurable earnings in about mid-October. At that time, the employee and employer will have paid the maximum premiums for the year. An employee earning $750 a week or less will have premiums withheld throughout the year.

The Record of Employment (ROE) form has also been simplified. In most cases, employers only have to report the first day of work and the last day paid, the total hours the employee worked in the last year, and the total insurable earnings in the last six months. In some cases, employers have to provide more details, such as earnings for each pay period during the last six months when one of those pay periods had nil earnings.

Eliminating minimums and maximums has made it significantly easier for employers to calculate and report earnings, since they no longer have to take into account pay-period variations.

Also as of January 1, 1997, Human Resources Development Canada eliminated requests to employers for payroll information on a Sunday to Saturday basis. This considerably reduces the workload for many employers.

For more information on how to complete the ROE form please refer to the 1999 Guide for Employers: How to Complete the Record of Employment Form, available from your local Human Resources Development Canada office (number available in the Government of Canada pages of your telephone directory).

For information about eliminating the concept of minimum and maximum insurable earnings, please refer to the business inquiries section listed under "Revenue Canada" in the Government of Canada pages of your telephone directory.


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Author: Industry Portfolio Office
Date of Publication: 2001-04-04		   Important notices and disclaimers
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