If an employee is taking unpaid leave, which is typically a leave of more than 7 days with the intent to return to employment with your business, then you need to place the employee on leave. Before placing your employee on leave, you need to know the employee's:
- Last date of work
- Date of return
- Reason for leave
If an employee is resigning, being dismissed with cause, or being dismissed without cause, then you need to offboard the employee. Before offboarding your employee, you need to know the employee's:
- Termination reason (resignation, dismissed without cause, or dismissed with cause)
- Last date of work
- Date of notice
Offboard an employee or place them on leave
- On the left navigation menu, click Payroll > Employees.
- Select the employee.
- Click Employment Status on the menu under the employee's name.
- To place an employee on leave, click Place on leave. To offboard an employee instead, click Start Offboarding.
Choose the last date of work, and date of notice for offboarded employees, or date of return (if known) for employees placed on leave. Wave will then calculate the following fields based on past approved payrolls and any relevant future payroll periods:
- Final pay period (last payroll period where this employee was active)
- Payday deadline (Wave recommends you pay this employee by this date to stay fully compliant with the CRA)
- Record of Employment (ROE) deadline (Wave recommends you to issue the ROE by this date to stay fully compliant with the CRA)
If you’re offboarding an employee, Wave checks for any pay that the employee is entitled to. Entitlement to particular types of pay is based on the reason for termination and the applicable provincial laws. These are the types of pay that Wave checks for:
- Dismissal pay
- Severance pay
- Vacation pay (calculated at the time of the last payroll period) Regular, holiday, overtime, and sick pay (calculated at the time of the last payroll period on the timesheets page)
Leave of absence and offboarding task list
After confirming either the leave of absence or offboarding you will be redirected to the employee's Employment Status page. You'll see an offboarding final task list that shows what needs to be done before the employee leaves your company.
The offboarding task list includes the following tasks and a recommended date of completion:
- Complete timesheets
- Provide pay
- Issue ROE
If the recommended payday is before the payday of the regular last payroll period of the employee, then you will have the option to run a one-off payroll for only this employee. For more information, see the section below.
When the offboarding task list is complete, you have successfully finished employee offboarding.
Pay offboarded employees with a one-off payroll
One-off payrolls for your offboarded employee will be made available if the employee's recommended final pay date is before the regularly scheduled payday for their final pay period. This allows you to provide the pay for the offboarded employee within the recommended date of completion given in the final task list.
To run a separate offboarding payroll, click the Pay them separately button on the Run Payroll page. After approving the one-off payroll, your next payroll will return to the original payroll period without the offboarded employee.
Wave automatically pays out any vacation balance when an employee is offboarded.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a copy of the ROE?
If you have issued an ROE through Wave, it will take 1-3 business days to be submitted to Service Canada. Once the submission is complete you can download a copy for your records. For the steps to download a copy, see Download a copy of your employee’s ROE.
Why is my offboarded employee receiving vacation payout on their final payroll?
An employee's available vacation balance and pay is automatically calculated during offboarding. This includes their vacation hours balance and any vacation hours they will earn for their last payroll period if their vacation policy is set to accrue. To learn how to review and manage an employee's vacation balance or policy, see Set a vacation policy for your employees.
I forgot to pay an employee's final payroll. Can I run a one-off payroll for them?
One-off payrolls are automatically generated for offboarded employees who are required to be paid before the regularly scheduled payday for their final pay period. The employee's final pay period can be reviewed in Wave by visiting the Run Payroll page.
What is an interruption of earnings?
Service Canada identifies an interruption of earnings as when an employee has had or is anticipated to have seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from the employer. This situation is called the seven-day rule.
When do I have to issue an ROE?
An ROE should be issued regardless of whether the employee intends to file a claim for EI benefits. Most commonly, an ROE is issued each time there's an interruption of earnings (leave of absence, dismissal, resignation), when Service Canada requests one, when the pay period type changes, or when the payroll account number changes. For a more comprehensive guide on when to issue an ROE, see Service Canada's Understanding the Record of Employment Form.