Citation Nr: 20021208 Decision Date: 03/25/20 Archive Date: 03/25/20 DOCKET NO. 15-13 257 DATE: March 25, 2020 REMANDED The claim of entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from December 1966 to November 1968. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of a rating decision by a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Board denied the claim on appeal in a September 2017 decision, which the Veteran appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In December 2018, pursuant to a joint motion for remand (JMR) filed by the parties to this matter, the Court vacated the Board’s decision and remanded the matter for additional consideration. The case is again before the Board for appellate review. A remand of the claim on appeal is warranted for additional medical inquiry. Since May 24, 2012, the Veteran has met the threshold requirement for entitlement to a TDIU on a schedular basis. The following disabilities have been service connected since then – posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rated as 70 percent disabling from May 24, 2012; coronary artery disease rated as 10 percent disabling from August 31, 2010 and 60 percent disabling from May 24, 2012; tinnitus, rated as 10 percent disabling from September 26, 2011; and bilateral hearing loss rated as 0 percent disabling from September 12, 2011. The Veteran underwent VA examinations of his service-connected disabilities in 2013 and 2014. The reports of record comment on the issue of employability. But the commentary is not clear regarding whether the Veteran is able to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation. More specifically, the evidence is not clear regarding whether he is capable of substantially gainful employment in a sedentary occupation. As such, an examination specifically addressing the impact of service-connected disability on employability should be conducted. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Undertake appropriate development to obtain any outstanding records pertinent to the claims to the extent possible. Include in the record any outstanding VA treatment records, the most recent of which submitted by VA are dated in March 2014. All records/responses received must be associated with the electronic claims file. 2. Conduct a social and industrial survey of the Veteran consisting of an interview, an assessment of educational and employment history, and an assessment of the effects of service-connected disability (PTSD, CAD, tinnitus, hearing loss) on the ability to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation. If it is determined that the Veteran has been capable of sedentary work since 2012, the examiner must explain how, in light of disability, he has been capable of such work. Further, the examiner should describe the types of jobs the Veteran would have been able to perform in despite symptoms associated with PTSD, CAD, and hearing problems. Age and nonservice-connected disability should not be factors when assessing the impact on employability of disability. Please explain in detail any opinion provided and the supporting rationale. In rendering the requested opinion, the examiner should note that the Veteran is competent to attest to matters of which he has first-hand knowledge, including observable symptomatology. If there is a medical basis to support or doubt the history provided by the Veteran and the other lay witnesses, the examiner should indicate this in the examination report and provide a rationale for that determination. If the examiner cannot provide an opinion without resorting to mere speculation, he or she shall provide a complete explanation for why an opinion cannot be rendered. In so doing, the examiner shall explain whether the inability to provide a more definitive opinion is the result of a need for additional information, or that he or she has exhausted the limits of current medical knowledge in providing an answer to that particular question(s). G. A. WASIK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Christopher McEntee, Counsel 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.