In ROE administration, the key concept is whether the employment relationship is still “active” (that is, whether there is an ongoing expectation the employee will work again). Service Canada’s ROE guidance ties ROE issuance to an interruption of earnings and specifically identifies situations where an employee is no longer on the employer’s active employment list (for example, no expectation of future work) as a trigger for issuing an ROE.

Options A and B describe circumstances that can still align with an ongoing employment relationship. For example, employees may remain eligible for certain benefits after a last day worked, and a right to recall means the employer may still consider the employee attached to the workplace (often still “active” depending on the arrangement). In contrast, when there is no expectation of work to be performed, the relationship is effectively ended for ROE purposes, and the employer generally proceeds with separation reporting and ROE completion based on the interruption of earnings rules.