Citation Nr: 18159410 Decision Date: 12/19/18 Archive Date: 12/19/18 DOCKET NO. 15-27 769 DATE: December 19, 2018 ORDER The Veteran is entitled to a Step Level 2 percentage for 5.5 months, from May 27, 2014, for calculating her Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) benefits for on-the-job training with Pacific Power and LU 125 Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC). Her appeal is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran finished her first six-month period of on-the-job training with Pacific Power and LU 125 JATC on March 27, 2012. 2. On April 9, 2012, the Veteran had completed the first two weeks of the second six-month period of on-the-job training when she left the program due to maternity leave and then being laid off. 3. Subsequent to April 9, 2012, the Veteran did not return to the on-the-job-training program with Pacific Power and LU 125 JATC until May 27, 2014. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for 5.5 months of Step Level 2 Post-9/11 percentage on-the-job-training benefits beginning May 27, 2014 have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 3313 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 21.9640 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION This case concerns VA educational benefits for on-the-job-training. The Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay a stipend to eligible veterans for participation in on-the-job-training and apprenticeship programs. Under Chapter 33 of Title 38 of the United States Code, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, an eligible veteran is awarded a rate equal to 100 percent of her applicable monthly housing allowance (MHA) during the first six months of on-the-job training, 80 percent of her applicable MHA during the second six months of training, 60 percent of her applicable MHA during the third six months of training, 40 percent of your applicable MHA during the fourth six months of training, and 20 percent of your applicable MHA during the remainder of the training. Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients will also receive a monthly stipend for books and supplies. See 38 U.S.C. § 3313. In the instant case, the Veteran began an apprenticeship program in September 2011 with the Pacific Power and LU 125 JATC, with the goal of becoming an estimator. Evidence in the record reveals that the Veteran left the program on April 9, 2012, due to maternity leave, and that while she was on maternity leave she was laid off. Evidence in the record also reveals that she was rehired and returned to the program on March 27, 2014. The Board notes that the Veteran was not awarded VA on-the-job training benefits in 2011 and 2012 because her employer was not an approved employer at that time. Regardless, that period of on-the-job training is included in calculating the Veteran’s six-month periods in the program for determining the percentage MHA benefits during later periods of the program. The Veteran does not assert otherwise. By the time the Veteran was rehired by her former employer, the employer had become approved by VA and thus she became eligible to receive VA on-the-job training program benefits as of May 27, 2014. The March 2015 VA determination on appeal awarded the Veteran Step Level 2 benefits from May 27, 2014 to July 15, 2014, and Step Level 3 benefits starting July 16, 2014. The Veteran disagreed, asserting that she was entitled to Step Level 2 benefits for a total of six months beginning May 27, 2014. The level of benefits assigned under the Post-9/11 GI Bill for participants in on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs is determined by how long a veteran has been participating in the apprenticeship or on-the-job-training program. As noted above, the percentage MHA benefits drop by 20 percent after each six-month period of the on-the-job training completed. The Veteran initially started the program on September 27, 2011. For the first six months of the program she would have been entitled to Step Level 1 benefits if her program had been VA approved at that time. As of March 27, 2012, she would have been entitled to Level 2 MHA benefits. Thus, she would have been entitled to Step Level 2 benefits for the final two-week period from March 27, 2012 to April 9, 2012, prior to her leaving the program. Therefore, when the Veteran returned to the program on May 27, 2014, she was entitled to Step Level 2 benefits from May 27, 2014 onward for a six-month period, less the two-week period she had already completed at Step Level 2 as of April 9, 2012. This shows that the Veteran is entitled to Step Level 2 on-the-job training benefits for 5.5 months beginning May 27, 2014. The Board recognizes that the RO calculated the Veteran as having had a total of 10 months and 11 days of training at the time she returned to the on-the-job training program in May 2014, rather than 6 months and 2 weeks. However, this calculation was based on an October 2014 training agreement document that listed total hours of training/experience credited, rather than the actual monthly periods that the Veteran had been in the company’s on-the-job training program. Additional documents signed by the Veteran, and by company apprenticeship coordinator, confirm that the Veteran was not participating in the on-the-job training program from April 9, 2012 to May 27, 2014. These include VA enrollment certification documents dated February 9, 2015 and March 16, 2015 Accordingly, the Veteran’s appeal is granted and her on-the-job training benefits must be adjusted to reflect Step Level 2 percentage for 5.5 months from May 27, 2014. G. A. WASIK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD R. E. Jones, Counsel