Verifying Next of Kin
According to the Department of Labor:
“Next of kin of a covered servicemember” means the nearest blood relative other than the covered servicemember’s spouse, parent, son, or daughter, in the following order of priority: Blood relatives who have been granted legal custody of the covered servicemember by court decree or statutory provisions, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and first cousins, unless the covered servicemember has specifically designated in writing another blood relative as his or her nearest blood relative for purposes of military caregiver leave under the FMLA.
When no such designation is made, and there are multiple family members with the same level of relationship to the covered servicemember, all such family members shall be considered the covered servicemember’s next of kin and may take FMLA leave to provide care to the covered servicemember, either consecutively or simultaneously. When such designation has been made, the designated individual shall be deemed to be the covered servicemember’s only next of kin.
How is an employer supposed to know if a next of kin has been designated?
Verifying next of kin can isn’t as easy as it sounds. Here are some guidelines which will help employers in this situation when next of kin needs to be determined:
- The Emergency Contact Form (DD0093) would rank employee’s relatives. This will help determine Next of Kin. For example, if the servicemember didn’t have brothers/sisters, child, spouse, or parent, then maybe they would list their cousin or uncle as an emergency contact and beneficiary.
- To obtain the DD0093, the employer can contact:
- Army orders verification should be sent to [email protected]
- For all other branches of the armed forces: To identify a contact person, an employer should look at the military order and conduct an Internet Search to locate of the unit/battalion the servicemember is assigned. There is no general location/number employers can use to verify the validity of the orders. Employers are going to have to do some research to find the appropriate officer in charge of the unit/battalion.
This link has contact information for all the branches of the armed forces. Each branch can provide verification of active duty dates of service. The verification of orders is given by the unit officer in charge of the service member.
Military orders for Marines, Air Force, and Navy will detail what unit or battalion the servicemember is assigned.
The links below can be used to locate contact information for the unit the servicemember is assigned. The employer should contact the officer in charge of the unit to verify the orders.
The Air Force doesn’t have a main location on the web which has all the units and contact information. An employer’s best option is to conduct an Internet Search of the unit indicated on the orders to locate a contact person.
Questions please contact:
Holly Moyer, M.Ed., CRC
Sr. Absence Management Consultant
(440) 937-9507
[email protected]
