Citation Nr: 20007115 Decision Date: 01/28/20 Archive Date: 01/28/20 DOCKET NO. 18-20 630 DATE: January 28, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to an increased rating in excess of 50 percent for panic disorder without agoraphobia with primary insomnia and depressive disorder is remanded. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from December 1978 to April 2002. This matter comes on appeal before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a May 2017 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). A remand is necessary in order to afford the Veteran a contemporaneous examination to determine the current severity of her service-connected psychiatric disability. The Veteran was last afforded a VA psychiatric examination for compensation purposes in May 2017, almost three years ago. In her July 2017 Notice of Disagreement, the Veteran stated that her psychiatric disability symptoms had significantly worsened since she was first evaluated. In her substantive appeal, she reported having problems at work due to her service-connected disability. A September 2018 VA treatment record also indicates that the Veteran stopped working because “the level of stress was too much for her.” The Veteran’s TDIU claim is inextricably intertwined with his increased rating claim remanded herein; as such, adjudication of the TDIU claim is deferred pending the proposed development. See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). Further, the Veteran last submitted a TDIU application in 2008. On remand, the Veteran should be asked to complete a new application for a TDIU in order to obtain her more recent employment history, if any. The matters are REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records and associate them with the claims file. 2. Provide the Veteran with a new VA Form 21-8940, Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability, and ask her to complete and return the form. 3. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination in order to assess the current severity of her psychiatric disability. 4. Then, readjudicate the claims on appeal. S. B. MAYS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board R. Casadei The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.