What Does The Va Considered Gainful Employment

In certain casesfor example if you need to be in the hospital oftenyou may qualify at a lower disability rating.

What does the va considered gainful employment. However if the veteran is listed by the VA as being 100 unable to work under the Total DisabilityIndividual Unemployability rating the veteran is not permitted to have substantial gainful employment. They do not affect your eligibility for IU. What is marginal employment. These thresholds are published every year.

You cant hold down a steady job that supports you financially known as substantially gainful employment because of your service-connected disability. Legally the concept of substantial gainful employment breaks down into two parts. The Definition of Substantially Gainful Occupation in a VA TDIU Claim. There are two ways to determine whether a veterans employment is considered marginal and not substantially gainful.

If you are employed and the earned annual income doesnt exceed the poverty level it may be considered marginal employment. You must be unable to maintain substantially gainful employment as a result of service-connected disabilities marginal employment such as odd jobs is not considered substantial gainful employment for VA purposes. Marginal employment is deemed to exist when a veterans earned annual income is below the amount established by the US. VA considers odd jobs as marginal employment.

One that provides annual income that exceeds the poverty threshold for one person irrespective of the number of hours or days that the veteran actually works and without regard to the veterans earned annual income prior to his having been awarded a 100 rating based on individual unemployability such employment constitutes as a matter of law a substantially gainful occupation and thus actual employability for the purposes of 38 CFR 3343c1. Two or more service-connected disabilities at least one disability ratable at 40 or more with a combined rating of 70 or more. One way to evaluate employment is to look at annual income for several years. Substantially gainful employment is any competitive employment that provides you with earnings that push you over the poverty threshold.

Even if you meet this first standard you also have to prove that you are unable to perform other occupations as they normally would be performed in the national economy. You must be unable to hold a job as a result of service-connected disabilities. If you are unable to work at the substantially gainful employment level because of your disability then you may qualify for TDIU without having to prove marginal employment. The VA has defined substantial gainful occupation in its Adjudication and Procedural Manual as that which is ordinarily followed by the nondisabled to earn their livelihood with earnings common to the particular occupation in the community where the veteran resides10 Marginal employment is not considered substantial gainful employment.

This means maintaining substantially gainful employment. To determine if your earnings may be deemed gainful the VA refers to the US. Department of Commerce which establishes the poverty level amount. Odd jobs marginal employment dont count.

Specifically it clarified the meaning of the phrase unable to secure and follow substantially gainful employment which is a determining factor in deciding whether a veteran is entitled to TDIU. Lets look at each in turn. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census as the poverty threshold. In its decision the Court outlined certain standards for VA to uphold when adjudicating the issue of TDIU.

You will need to show that you cannot do your prior occupation or your prior work.