If an employee has left the organization or for whatever reason is no longer eligible to participate in the plan you, are responsible for removing them from your plan.
Even when an employee leaves your company, their Common Wealth Plan RRSP/TFSA remains theirs for life, providing a lasting benefit that doesn’t end with employment. With lower fees, personalized planning tools, and automatic investing, employees have every reason to stay invested and continue growing their retirement savings, ensuring they remain on track toward their financial goals.
This guide outlines how to properly remove an employee and manage their plan status.
Steps to remove an employee:
- Log in to the Employer Dashboard and navigate to the ‘Employees’ tab.
- Click on ‘Update Employee List’ at the top right of the dashboard.
- Download the employee.xlsx template, which will help you organize the required information for adding new employees. You can also download your last submitted file to help you keep track of your member changes.
- Populate the template with the mandatory fields (all other fields are optional):
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- Email address (original email uploaded to plan as this is the unique identifier)
- First and last name
- Change status to "Terminated" using the drop down
- Add date of termination in the format YYYY-MM-DD
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- Upload the file in the employer dashboard using "select and upload file" button.
- Our system will check the file content and summarize the employee records. Review these details before submitting the termination
Removing employees on temporary leave:
If an employee is on temporary leave (e.g., parental leave or sabbatical), do not remove them from the plan. Instead:
- Exclude the employee from payroll — simply exclude the employee from the payroll register you upload until they return to work. No need to update the employee file.
After you remove an employee:
Verify Employee Status: Once an employee’s status is updated to "Terminated," they will no longer appear under 'Enrolled' or 'Not Enrolled' in the Employee List.
Notifications: Our Customer Success team will reach out to terminated employees to discuss their options for continuing their plan membership.
- Note:If the employee's profile is linked to their work email, please provide their personal email contact to support@commonwealthretirement.com to ensure they receive necessary communications.
Payroll contributions for terminated employees:
You can still submit TFSA and RRSP payroll contributions for employees who were enrolled in the plan before their termination. However, DPSP contributions cannot be submitted for a terminated employee.
Uploading termination statuses for your employees is crucial. It allows us to communicate important information to them and ensures the accuracy of your employee records, keeping your plan up-to-date.
Staying up to date