Citation Nr: 18151809 Decision Date: 11/20/18 Archive Date: 11/20/18 DOCKET NO. 18-03 063 DATE: November 20, 2018 ORDER A total rating due to individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s PTSD precludes him from obtaining and maintaining substantial and gainful employment. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria are met for a TDIU. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1155, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.321, 3.340, 3.341, 3.400, 4.16. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from February 1966 to April 1972, and from September 1972 to March 1974. A TDIU is granted. When any impairment of mind or body sufficiently renders it impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful occupation, that impairment will be found to be causing total disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.340. If the total rating is based on a disability or combination of disabilities for which the Schedule for Rating Disabilities provides an evaluation of less than 100 percent, it must be determined that the service-connected disabilities are sufficient to produce unemployability without regard to advancing age. 38 C.F.R. § 3.341. In evaluating total disability, full consideration must be given to unusual physical or mental effects in individual cases, to peculiar effects of occupational activities, to defects in physical or mental endowment preventing the usual amount of success in overcoming the handicap of disability and to the effects of combinations of disability. 38 C.F.R. § 4.15. If the schedular rating is less than total, a total disability evaluation can be assigned based on individual unemployability if the Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disability, provided that the Veteran has one service-connected disability rated at 60 percent or higher; or two or more service-connected disabilities, with one disability rated at 40 percent or higher and the combined rating is 70 percent or higher. The existence or degree of nonservice-connected disabilities will be disregarded if the above-stated percentage requirements are met and the evaluator determines that the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities render him incapable of substantial gainful employment. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). The Veteran’s claim for TDIU was received in December 2016. He is service connected for PTSD (70 percent), hearing loss (30 percent), and type 2 diabetes (20 percent), and has a combined rating of 80 percent. He meets the eligibility criteria for a TDIU for the entire period on appeal. The remaining question, then, is whether his disabilities preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantial gainful employment. The Veteran’s application for increased compensation based on unemployability indicates he last worked full-time in April 2013. His previous work experience was as a machine operator and mechanic, a loader/operator, and a carpenter. He graduated high school but did not attend college. He asserts all his disabilities cause his TDIU. The Veteran’s VA treatment provider provided his assessment of the Veteran’s service connected disabilities in a February 2018 treatment record. He indicated that he could not comment on the Veteran’s distant employment history, but that he had been treating the Veteran since November 2012. He reported that review of the initial PTSD evaluation, in November 2012, showed the Veteran to have multiple facets of PTSD, to include anxiety, sleep disturbances, avoidant behavior, and short-term memory issues. He continued that these symptoms would make it “extremely difficult” for him to engage in the activities of a job that required “timely completion to exacting standards,” in conjunction with continuous encounters with peers and superiors. The Board notes that the Veteran’s previous work experience as a machine operator, mechanic, and carpenter all required timely completion of tasks that need to be done in the proper manner. The Veteran’s treatment provider indicated that “it is difficult to think of a job” that the Veteran could do or be retrained to do “that would eliminate these stressors and still allow him to make a livable wage.” He further indicated that the Veteran’s hearing was sufficient to have a conversation in a quiet room, but that his loss was more significant in any environment with background noise. He indicated the Veteran’s diabetes did not have any debilitating factors. The March 2017 VA PTSD examination shows the Veteran’s symptoms include depressed mood, anxiety, chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss, difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work relationships, and difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances including work or in a worklike setting. His VA diabetes examination shows that he was hospitalized in January 2017 for high blood sugar, but otherwise did not have neuropathy, sensory changes in the hands and feet, or retinopathy. Based on the above, the Board finds that a TDIU is warranted due to his PTSD. The record shows that he performed skilled labor for many years, which he can no longer tolerate due to anxiety, avoidant behavior, sleep impairment, and memory troubles. His treatment provider indicated that he could not think of any job the Veteran could do that would accommodate for these symptoms and still be gainful. The Board finds this opinion probative. Whether a veteran is capable of more than marginal employment must be considered. Ortiz-Valles v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 65 (2016). Here, it appears that he would not be able to do more than marginal employment, or that he would need a more structured environment to overcome his symptoms. The Board notes that the Veteran applied for, and was denied, vocational rehabilitation in October 2010. At that time, he was found to be capable to work performing oil changes or stocking shelves, or as a carpenter, which was cited as evidence against his current claim. These types of jobs would require “timely completion to exacting standards,” as mentioned in the February 2018 opinion, which he has been found unable to do since he was evaluated for vocational rehabilitation in October 2010. Accordingly, a TDIU is granted. Nathaniel J. Doan Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Gibson