Citation Nr: 18152722 Decision Date: 11/26/18 Archive Date: 11/23/18 DOCKET NO. 18-48 871 DATE: November 26, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from July 1954 to June 1958. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in August 2018 by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Entitlement to a TDIU. The Veteran contends that he is unemployable as a result of his service-connected disabilities. Specifically, he alleges that his service-connected ichthyoses causes discomfort that interferes with his sleep and thus precludes employment. Total disability ratings for compensation may be assigned, where the schedular rating is less than total, when a veteran 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, such disability shall be ratable as 60 percent or more, and if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). Rating boards should submit to the Director of Compensation Service for extra-schedular consideration all cases of veterans who are unemployable by reason of service-connected disabilities but who fail to meet the percentage standards set forth in 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). See 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(b). The Veteran is service-connected for bilateral tinnitus, rated as 10 percent disabling, and bilateral hearing loss and chronic ichthyoses, both rated as noncompensably disabling. For the entire appeal period, his combined disability rating is 10 percent. Thus, the preliminary schedular rating requirements for a TDIU are not met. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a). However, as noted previously, the case should be submitted to the Director of Compensation Service for extra-schedular consideration if the Veteran is nonetheless determined to be unemployable by reason of service-connected disabilities. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(b In his May 2018 Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability (VA Form 21-8940), the Veteran reported that completed four years of college, earning a degree in political science and constitutional history. He also reported that he worked full-time from January 2002 to May 2016 in employment services for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but left as his employer could no longer accommodate a one-hour break of mid-day sleep. He indicated that he then worked part-time in a commissary from September 2016 to February 2017, and as a security officer as of April 2017; however, based on his reported income, it does not appear that such exceeds the amount established by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, as the poverty threshold for one person. Additionally, VA treatment notes show that, in April 2016, the Veteran reported that he was getting ready to retire from his position as an employment manager for an employment agency the following month. Treatment notes in 2017 reflect an occupational history of working 25 years in the insurance industry, and 18 years as an employment counselor. After his retirement, he worked in a commissary for five months. The position required him to stand, lift, and restock groceries eight hours a day, which he felt had a profound effect on his stamina at the age of 80. At a September 2013 VA examination, it was noted that his bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus resulted in difficulty understanding conversational speech in noise or at distances without visual cues. In December 2017, the Veteran’s treatment provider completed a Skin Diseases Disability Questionnaire, which noted a diagnosis of ichthyosis productive of skin dryness, which was treated with lotion. At such time, it was noted that such disability resulted in discomfort and sleep disturbance described as interference with sleep. No other symptoms, or debilitating or non-debilitating episodes were noted. At a March 2018 VA examination, it was noted that the Veteran had been treated for ichthyosis since 1955, which was noted to result in itchiness. No other symptoms, or debilitating or non-debilitating episodes were noted. With respect to the impact that such disability had on his ability to work, the examiner noted that the constant itching and dry skin with decreased elasticity and increased sensitivity to materials that touch his skin made it difficult for him to sleep well at night. As an initial matter, the Board notes that, in October 2018, the Veteran’s claim for a compensable rating for his ichthyosis was remanded in order to obtain the clinical findings the March 2018 VA examiner based his notation that such disability caused work-related sleep disruption. Further, the Board directed that the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) provide the Veteran the appropriate form necessary to file a claim for service connection for sleep disturbance as secondary to his ichthyosis as alleged in an April 2018 statement. To date, such development has not been completed. Further, the Veteran’s claim for a TDIU is inextricably intertwined with the increased rating claim remanded in October 2018 as the outcome of such claim may materially affect the latter claim. See Parker v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 116 (1994); Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991) (issues are “inextricably intertwined” when a decision on one issue would have a “significant impact” on a Veteran’s claim for the second issue). Therefore, adjudication of the Veteran’s TDIU claim must be deferred. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: Following the completion of the development ordered in the Board’s October 2018 remand pertinent to the issue of entitlement to a compensable rating for his ichthyosis, the AOJ should readjudicate the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to a TDIU. A. JAEGER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Azizi-Barcelo, Tatiana