TDIU – Veterans Disability

TDIU -EMPLOYABILITY  VOCATIONAL EVALUATION  PROCESS

This is more in-depth than the Social & Industrial Survey that the VA’s social worker will fill out, and again, the SW is not an Employability/Placeability Expert- This is why you need a Vocational Expert.

Our Vocational Experts will perform a Vocational Analysis of the Veteran

1) Document Review – General list:

Hospital, Physician, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, & Counselor records, Veteran’s Disability Forms.

2)  We Use Both a Structured and Unstructured Diagnostic  Vocational Interview

This will be a review of the Veteran’s history and will also outline the Veteran’s age, education, current work status, past work experience, skills, current medical & psychological impairment(s), treatments, and physical & psychological limitations.

(This can be in-person or through SKYPE)

3)  Assessment of Current Information and determining if more documentation is needed.

– If needed we will create Medical and/or Psychological Source forms and/or Mental Residual Functional Capacity (MRFC), Physical Residual Functional Capacity (RFC).  This will be the Veteran’s or their Representative responsibility to get completed and returned to us.

4)  Vocational Psychometric Assessment (most cases will require vocational assessments)

Based on the case we will determine what assessments need to be completed. We will assess not only aptitudes but also may measure Attention, Concentration, Memory, Cognitive Abilities, Mental Health Measures (Depression, Anxiety, GAD, PTSD, etc.)

5)  Perform a Vocational Diagnostic Assessment of Residual Employability.

6)   Labor Market Research (if needed)

Private, local, state, and federal government labor market studies to determine if any significant number of jobs exist that the claimant can perform in the local and national labor market.

The results of the vocational evaluation enable the Vocational Expert to render an opinion as to the employability of the permanently injured veteran’s and their ability to perform substantial gainful work activity based on quantifiable, accurate, and current information using Veteran’s Disability standards.

GET TDIU for PTSD

The VA, Veterans Disability and what is needed to get a PTSD Disability Rating for VA Disability and TDIU:

In the past, the VA has maintained strict requirements for claiming PTSD disability but in recent years these have become less stringent. Since 2010, veterans are no longer required to prove that the PTSD-triggering event actually occurred. This applies to combat veterans and any veteran who experienced fear of hostile terrorist activity.

The way to create  A DIRECT SERVICE CONNECTION FOR PTSD, VETERANS MUST HAVE:

  • A current PTSD diagnosis
  • A statement about the event that caused their trauma
  • Consistency between the veteran’s statement and the conditions of their service
  • A medical opinion that the stressor had a sufficient enough impact on them to cause PTSD

We use Advance Forensic Mental Health Evaluations to give objective evidence of your PTSD and other Mental Health issues and are able to relate these issues and limitations in Vocational Terms. This is something other professionals can Doctors cannot do, and what the VA ALJ’s are trying to do in a vacuum unless you have a Vocational Expert outlining the issues in Vocational Terms.

you can also get PTSD from MST see: MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA (MST) AND PTSD

If you have a PTSD Rating and you are having problems Obtaining or Maintaining Employment due to your Service Connected Disabilities and the VA is not increasing your disability rating you should consider a TDIU Vocational Evaluation

 

See: TDIU Assessment Process

See: Why Us for PTSD TDIU Veterans Disability

We can provide PTSD evaluations, TDIU Evaluations, and Veteran Disability Evaluations nationally.

Social & Industrial Survey is one of the structured interview styles the VA wants to have done.

FACTS- Veterans Disability – What is TDIU – Individual Unemployability

INDIVIDUAL UNEMPLOYABILITY
WHAT IS INDIVIDUAL UNEMPLOYABILITY (IU)?
IU is a part of VA’s disability compensation program that allows VA to pay certain Veterans compensation at the 100% rate, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the 100% level.
WHAT IS THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INDIVIDUAL UNEMPLOYABILITY?
A Veteran must be unable to maintain substantially gainful employment as a result of his/her serviceconnected disabilities. (marginal employment, such as odd jobs, is not considered substantial gainful employment for VA purposes). Additionally, a Veteran must have:
• One service-connected disability ratable at 60 percent or more, OR
• Two or more service-connected disabilities, at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more with a combined rating of 70 percent or more.

HOW DO I APPLY?
• Submit VA Form 21-8940, Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on
Unemployability.
• Send your completed application to your nearest VA regional office or call 1-800-827-1000.

WHAT IF I DON’T MEET THE PERCENTAGE CRITE RIA?
Special consideration will be given for Veterans when the following criteria are met:
• The Veteran is considered unemployable due to a service-connected disability(ies) but fails to meet the minimum percentage standards, OR

There is evidence of exceptional or unusual circumstances to impairment of earning capacity due to disabilities (for example, interference with employment or frequent periods of hospitalization)
Note: Veterans may have to complete an employment questionnaire once a year in order for VA to determine continued eligibility to IU.

Veterans Disability – Service Connected Condition

The Veterans Administration (VA) provides disability compensation for deserving veterans who have disabilities related to their military service.  These conditions include those that developed while serving in the military that were not caused by active duty, and conditions that were caused or exacerbated by military service.

The Veterans Administration recognizes the following list of conditions as having developed in veterans because of their active service in the military. If you have a service-connected condition and having problems Finding and Maintaining Employment you may be eligible for 100% Veterans Disability due to TDIU, and could benefit from an evaluation.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Related to combat service or personal trauma

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Often diagnosed, but generally related to concussion resulting from explosion

Why us for Veteran Disability Evaluations

Chronic Diseases:

If diagnosed within one year of separation from service

  • Anemia, primary
  • Arteriosclerosis
  • Arthritis
  • Atrophy, Progressive Muscular
  • Brain Hemorrhage
  • Brain Thrombosis
  • Bronchiectasis
  • Calculi of the kidney, bladder, or gallbladder
  • Cardiovascular-renal disease, including hypertension
  • Cirrhosis of the liver
  • Coccidioidomycosis
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Encephalitis lethargic residuals
  • Endocarditis (all forms of valvular heart disease)
  • Endocrinopathies
  • Epilepsies
  • Hansen’s disease
  • Hodgkin’s disease
  • Leukemia
  • Lupus erythematous, systemic
  • Myasthenia gravis
  • Myelitis
  • Myocarditis
  • Nephritis
  • Other organic diseases of the nervous system
  • Osteitis deformans (Paget‟s disease)
  • Osteomalacia
  • Palsy, bulbar
  • Paralysis agitans
  • Psychoses
  • Purpura idiopathic, hemorrhagic
  • Raynaud‟s disease
  • Sarcoidosis
  • Scleroderma
  • Sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral
  • Sclerosis, multiple
  • Syringomyelia
  • Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger‟s disease)
  • Tuberculosis, active
  • Tumors, malignant, or of the brain or spinal cord or peripheral nerves
  • Ulcers, peptic (gastric or duodenal)

Tropical Diseases

If diagnosed within incubation period of illness following service in a tropical region

  • Amebiasis
  • Blackwater fever
  • Cholera
  • Dracontiasis
  • Filariasis
  • Leishmaniasis, including kala-azar
  • Loiasis.
  • Malaria
  • Onchocerciasis
  • Oroya fever
  • Pinta
  • Plague
  • Schistosomiasis
  • Yaws
  • Yellow fever

Diseases Specific to Prisoners of War

If held captive more than 30 days and diagnosed at any time following separation from service

  • Psychosis
  • Any of the anxiety states
  • Dysthymic disorder (depressive neurosis)
  • Organic residuals of frostbite
  • Post-traumatic osteoarthristis
  • Atherosclerotic heart disease
    • Hypertensive vascular disease
    • Hypertensive heart disease
    • Myocardial infarction
    • Congestive heart failure
    • Arrhythmia
  • Stroke
  • Osteoporosis
  • Avitaminosis
  • Beriberi (including beriberi heart disease)
  • Chronic dysentery
  • Helminthiasis
  • Malnutrition
  • Pellagra
  • Other nutritional deficiency
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Peptic ulcer disease
  • Peripheral neuropathy (except if related to infectious causes)
  • Cirrhosis of the liver
  • Osteoporosis (on or after September 28, 2009)

MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA (MST) AND PTSD

PTSD may also result from an unwanted sexual event, which includes any form of forced sexual contact or contact that took place without the victim’s knowledge or consent. Military sexual trauma (MST) is not only a result of the event itself, but the fear of retaliation if the event is reported.

Statistics from the VA show that in 2012, 23.6% of female veterans seen for health care reported a history of MST. Men also report suffering sexual assault while in the military.

Disability compensation is available to both male and female veterans who have suffered MST or who developed PTSD as a result of MST. In these cases, the veteran must have some proof that the sexual event occurred to receive disability compensation for it. However, in recent years, the VA has created less strict evidentiary requirements and will now accept a variety of what they call “markers”, which can include various signals, occurrences, or circumstances that would indicate a traumatic event took place.


Vocational Expert in Veterans Disability & TDIU