Citation Nr: 18153363
Decision Date: 11/27/18	Archive Date: 11/27/18

DOCKET NO. 10-47 062A
DATE:	November 27, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran had active service from May 1976 to November 1989.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2010 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Hartford, Connecticut.
In June 2017, the Board denied the claim for a TDIU.  The Veteran appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (“Court” or “CAVC”).  Pursuant to a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR), the Court ordered that the Board decision be remanded for adjudication in accordance with the JMR.
1. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.
The Veteran seeks a TDIU given the severity of his service-connected back disability, sciatic nerve disability of the right and left legs, femoral nerve disability of the right and left legs, and depression.  He asserts that he is unable to secure and maintain employment.
Prior to the Board’s June 2017 decision, the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) last reviewed the Veteran’s claim for a TDIU in a Supplemental Statement of the Case dated May 2016.  The Veteran provided an independent vocational assessment to the AOJ in October 2016.  In the JMR, the parties stipulated that this was additional evidence bearing on the issue of a TDIU, and that the record contained no indication that the Veteran, or his representative, waived consideration of this evidence by the AOJ, and that 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304(c) required that the Board refer the October 2016 private vocational assessment evidence to the AOJ for initial review prior to the Board’s decision on this claim.
Pursuant to the JMR, the matter is REMANDED for the following action:
Readjudicate the Veteran’s claim on appeal in light of all additional evidence added to the record since the May 2016 Supplemental Statement of the Case, to specifically include the October 2016 independent vocational assessment submitted by the Veteran.  If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, issue a supplemental statement of the case and allow an appropriate period of time for response.
 
TANYA SMITH
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	D. Lauritzen, Associate Counsel