What Does Va Unemployability Mean

TDIU is short for Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability.

What does va unemployability mean. The disability rating from 10 to 100 is the only subjective element. Individual Unemployability IU is a unique part of VAs disability compensation program. Overview of VA Individual Unemployability TDIU Total disability based on individual unemployability TDIU is a disability benefit that allows veterans to be compensated at VAs 100 percent disability rate even if their combined schedular rating does not equal 100 percent. Who Is Eligible for Individual Unemployability.

You must be a Veteran. While this may be the case in theory in practicality disabled veterans need to be proactive in protecting their interests and in advocating for their rights. It is a way for veterans to prove that their service connected disabilities prevent them from getting or keeping a job even when they do not have a 100 schedule rating for their disabilities. TDIU is a VA extra-schedular rating meaning that it can be awarded outside of the normal ratings schedule.

In VA law such claims frequently go by the abbreviation TDIU referring to a Total Disability rating based upon Individual Unemployability. VA disability attorneys cannot charge veterans more than 33 of retroactive benefits plus added expenses such as outside experts. You cannot do your prior occupation or past work. This phrase means that the Veteran has a physical emotional mental or other condition that significantly impairs important life functions on an ongoing basis.

It allows VA to pay certain Veterans compensation at the 100 percent rate even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at that level. This applies to anyone rated at 50 or higher. Individual Unemployability allows VA to pay certain Veterans at the 100-percent disability rate even though their service-connected disabilities are not rated as 100-percent disabling. VA considers a veteran to be unemployable if they are unable to obtain or maintain substantial gainful employment.

Individual Unemployability allows a veteran with a service-connected condition rated less than 100 to be rated at the 100 level because the condition makes the veteran unemployable. When VA assigns TDIU the veteran is compensated at the 100 rate for service-connected disabilities that do not combine to a 100 schedular rating. In 2019 that threshold for one person is 12490. To meet these terms in your claim you need to substantiate two things.

Inability to obtain or maintain. VA Individual Unemployability if you cant work If you cant work because of a disability related to your service in the military a service-connected disability you may qualify for whats called Individual Unemployability. The courts have determined that substantially gainful occupation means employment where a veteran earns more than what the current federal poverty level is for an individual. VA considers veterans awarded individual unemployability unable to obtain or follow substantially gainful employment.

Individual Unemployability on the other hand is almost entirely subjective. The VA may grant unemployability when a veteran is unable to secure or maintain a substantially gainful occupation due to their service-connected disabilities. The VA Disability Benefits System describes itself as non-adversarial even claimant-friendly. You must be a Veteran.

So the definition of unemployability leads you to two other concepts that you need to understand. Individual Unemployability IU is basically an exception to the rules of Total Ratings. You get totally free health care for anything and everything from the VA. In VA-related terms Unemployability is the inability to find or keep gainful employment that financially supports you and your family due to a disability.

As a general rule veterans should not rely upon the VA to protect their interests. According to VA regulations you usually cannot benefit from a total disability rating based on individual unemployability if you are maintaining gainful employment Gainful employment is defined as any job that puts you over the poverty line and that does not include special accommodations.