Citation Nr: 21023996 Decision Date: 04/21/21 Archive Date: 04/21/21 DOCKET NO. 16-42 789 DATE: April 21, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s service-connected disabilities render him unemployable. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to a TDIU have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 1155, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.340, 3.341, 4.3, 4.16, 4.18, 4.19. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from April 1968 to April 1972. This matter was remanded for additional development in October 2019. The development has been completed and the matter is once again before the Board. The Veteran had a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law judge in May 2019. A transcript has been associated with the file. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted. The Veteran contends he is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected disabilities. Entitlement to a TDIU requires the presence of impairment so severe that it is impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful occupation. Consideration may be given to the Veteran’s level of education, special training, and previous work experience in arriving at a conclusion, but not to his age or to the impairment caused by nonservice-connected disabilities. 38 U.S.C. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16, 4.19. In reaching such a determination, the central inquiry is “whether the veteran’s service-connected disabilities alone are of sufficient severity to produce unemployability.” Hatlestad v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 524, 529 (1993). The fact that a veteran is unemployed or has difficulty obtaining employment is not enough to warrant a TDIU. See Van Hoose v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 361. The law provides that a total disability rating may be assigned where the schedular rating is less than total when the disabled person is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities, provided that, if there is only one such disability, this disability shall be ratable at 60 percent or more, or if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a) (2016). The Veteran meets the criteria as of February 8, 2011 for a schedular TDIU as his coronary artery disease is rated 60 percent disabling. In addition to his coronary artery disease, the Veteran is also service connected for the following: • tinnitus, rated as 10 percent disabling, and • bilateral hearing loss rated as noncompensable. For the following reasons, the Board finds the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities render him unable to work. The Veteran had previous work experience in general labor manufacturing from 1994 to 2009. (See e.g. Social Security Administration Records). However, the Veteran has not participated in this work for many years. The highest level of education completed by the Veteran is 12th grade. A September 2020 VA examiner reported the Veteran’s service-connected tinnitus does not impair his ability to perform physical and sedentary activities and therefore does not impede his ability to seek gainful employment per his report of no functional limitations caused by his symptoms. Another September 2020 VA examiner indicated the Veteran’s service-connected hearing loss impairs his ability to work as it affects his ability to understand speech when there is noise, in groups, and at a distance. The Veteran reported to the July 2015 VA examiner that his coronary artery disease impacts his ability to work because he has poor tolerance to exercise stating he is unable to walk half a block before becoming symptomatic with fatigue and shortness of breath. An October 2020 VA examiner indicated the Veteran reported shortness of breath and fatigue as a result of his coronary artery disease consistent with activities such as light yard work. The Social Security Administration (SSA) found the Veteran disabled beginning July 1, 2009 as a result of his acute myocardial infarction. The September 2020 VA examiner considered the impact of the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities on his ability to work and found that, while the Veteran is able to perform light physical and sedentary work, his service-connected disabilities prevent him from completing an entire day of physical work. As the Veteran’s training and work history only prepare him for physical work, the September 2020 VA examiner’s opinion supports a finding that the Veteran is unable to obtain and maintain substantially gainful employment commensurate with his training and work history as a result of his service-connected disabilities. The Board finds that the evidence, when taken as a whole, demonstrates the Veteran is unable to work due to his service-connected disabilities and therefore, a TDIU will be granted. John J. Crowley Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board L. Holcombe, Associate 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.