Citation Nr: 18143583 Decision Date: 10/19/18 Archive Date: 10/19/18 DOCKET NO. 18-37 927 DATE: October 19, 2018 ORDER A total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT The Veteran’s service-connected disabilities preclude him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation. CONCLUSION OF LAW Entitlement to a TDIU is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 1155 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.324, 4.16 (2017).   REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 2003 to April 2010. This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2014 Rating Decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 1. TDIU Total disability ratings for compensation may be assigned where the schedular rating is less than total, when the disabled person is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities, provided that, if there is only one such disability, this disability shall be ratable at 60 percent or more, or if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one ratable at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16(a). The Board must determine whether the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities precluded him from engaging in substantially gainful employment (i.e., work that is more than marginal, which permits the individual to earn a “living wage”). See Moore v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 356 (1991). The sole fact that a claimant is unemployed or has difficulty obtaining employment is not enough. A high rating in itself is recognition that the impairment makes it difficult to obtain or keep employment. The ultimate question is whether the Veteran, in light of his service-connected disorders, is capable of performing the physical and mental acts required by employment, not whether he can find employment. See Van Hoose v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 361 (1993). In Faust v. West, 13 Vet. App. 342 (2000), the Court defined “substantially gainful employment” as an occupation that provides an annual income that exceeds the poverty threshold for one person, irrespective of the number of hours or days that a veteran actually works and without regard to a veteran’s earned annual income. In Hatlestad v. Derwinski, 5 Vet. App. 524, 529 (1993), the Court held that the central inquiry in determining whether a veteran is entitled to TDIU is whether a veteran’s service-connected disabilities alone are of sufficient severity to produce unemployability. The determination as to whether a total disability is appropriate should not be based solely upon demonstrated difficulty in obtaining employment in one particular field, which could also potentially be due to external bases such as economic factors, but rather to all reasonably available sources of employment under the circumstances. See Ferraro v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 326, 331-32 (1991). The sole fact that a veteran is unemployed or has difficulty obtaining employment is not enough. In determining unemployability, consideration should be given to the Veteran’s prior education, training, and work experience, but not to age or impairment from nonservice-connected disabilities. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.341, 4.16, 4.19; see also Faust v. West, 13 Vet. App. 342 (2000). The Veteran meets the initial criteria for consideration of a total disability rating because his PTSD is rated 70 percent, and his overall rating is 90 percent. Regarding the Veteran’s educational level, his vocational rehabilitation records reflect that he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administrative Management and a Master of Business Administration. With the exception of his part-time work as a dogwalker, the Veteran has provided no other information about his employment history. The Veteran is service connected for a psychiatric disorder rated as 70 percent disabling and a low back disorder rated as 40 percent disabling. In addition, he has lower extremity neuropathy and impairments of each hip. The combined evaluation is 90 percent. Here, the disabilities impact his ability to interact with   others and concentrate. The orthopedic impairments impact his ability to bend, walk, lift and sit for periods of time. The combined impact renders him unable to obtain and retain substantially gainful employment. H. N. SCHWARTZ Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD K. McDermott, Associate Counsel