Citation Nr: 21021269 Decision Date: 04/12/21 Archive Date: 04/12/21 DOCKET NO. 17-25 815 DATE: April 12, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) prior to November 1, 2019 is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the Navy from October 1961 to February 1966. This matter is on appeal from an April 2017 rating decision. In a February 2019 decision, the Board denied an increased rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an earlier effective date for service connection for PTSD, and a TDIU. The Veteran appealed the Board’s decision, but only with regard to the TDIU claim, to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR), the parties agreed to vacate the Board’s decision with regard to that issue and remand the case to the Board for additional development. The JMPR was incorporated by reference in a Court order dated in September 2020. The Board notes that the Veteran’s disability rating on and after November 1, 2019 is 100 percent. Consideration of entitlement to a TDIU is not rendered moot automatically by the assignment of a 100 percent schedular rating.  A veteran may be awarded special monthly compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1114 (s) (2012) based upon a finding that a single disability supports a TDIU rating and other service-connected disabilities are separately ratable at 60 percent or more.  See Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280 (2008).  Because the Veteran is receiving special monthly compensation on that basis on and after November 1, 2019, the issue of entitlement to a TDIU is moot after that date, but the Board will consider entitlement to a TDIU prior to that date. 1. Entitlement to a TDIU prior to November 1, 2019 is remanded. VA will grant a total disability rating when the evidence shows that a veteran is precluded, by reason of service-connected disabilities, from securing and following substantially gainful employment consistent with his education and occupational experience. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16 (2020). The regulations provide that if there is only one such disability, it must be rated at 60 percent or more; and if there are two or more disabilities, at least one disability must be rated at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability must bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. Disabilities resulting from common etiology or a single accident or disabilities affecting a single body system will be considered as one disability for the purposes meeting the requirement of one 60 percent disability or one 40 percent disability. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a). The Veteran’s combined disability rating from October 11, 2011 to June 28, 2018 is 50 percent and his combined disability rating from June 29, 2018 to October 31, 2019 is 60 percent: his PTSD is rated 50 percent disabling on and after October 11, 2011 and his diabetes mellitus type II is rated 20 percent disabling on and after June 29, 2018. The criteria for consideration of a schedular TDIU are not met prior to November 1, 2019. If a veteran does not meet the applicable percentage standards set forth in 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a), the issue of entitlement to a TDIU may be submitted to the Director of the Compensation Service for extraschedular consideration where the Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation by reason of service-connected disability. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (b); Fanning v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 225 (1993). In their JMPR, the parties before the Court agreed that the Board must consider the Veteran’s reports of “long periods of time when [he] did not work” prior to his retirement due to his PTSD symptoms. Although the specific details are somewhat contradictory, information from the Veteran and two of his former employers also indicates that he may have switched jobs multiple times in the year prior to his retirement; the Veteran also reported during the May 2013 VA examination that his job changes were often due to being fired. Thus, there appears to be evidence that might be sufficient to substantiate a reasonable possibility that he may be unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected disabilities. Ray v. Wilkie, 31 Vet. App. 58 (2019). A remand for referral to consider an extraschedular TDIU is warranted. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Refer the Veteran’s TDIU claim to the Director of the Compensation Service for consideration of entitlement to a TDIU on an extraschedular basis, pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (b). 2. Then, readjudicate the claim.  If the decision is unfavorable to the Veteran, issue a Supplemental Statement of the Case and allow the applicable time for response.  Then, return the case to the Board. D. Martz Ames Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Ryan Frank, 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.