Citation Nr: 21024605 Decision Date: 04/23/21 Archive Date: 04/23/21 DOCKET NO. 16-34 327 DATE: April 23, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s service-connected disabilities do not render him unable to obtain substantially gainful employment. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § § 1155; 38C.F.R. §§3.340, 3.341, 4.1, 4.16, 4.25, 4.26. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from October 1966 to October 1969, to include service in the Republic of Vietnam. In September 2019, the Veteran and his wife testified at a travel board hearing before the undersigned. In November 2019, the issue of TDIU was remanded as inextricably intertwined with a claim for service connection for a skin disability. A January 2021 Decision Review Officer (DRO) decision granted service connection for a skin rash associated with service-connected diabetes mellitus type II. As the grant of service connection is considered to be a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal that issue is no longer before the Board. 1. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability The Veteran asserts that he is unable to work due to his service-connected disabilities. Specifically, in his July 2016 substantive appeal, the Veteran claimed that he was unable to work due to his PTSD and chronic kidney failure. In August 2016, the Veteran was sent an unemployability application to complete and submit. In September 2016, the Veteran submitted another substantive appeal stating that his physician had determined he is unable to work because of his service-connected PTSD disability. During the Veteran’s September 2019 board hearing, the Veteran stated that he was not able to work due to his PTSD and possibly due to his diabetes mellitus type II. He testified that he stopped working in 2006 or 2007 because he and his manager were not getting along. Total disability ratings for compensation 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, and that, if there are two or more such 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. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a). The Veteran is currently service-connected for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 70 percent disabling, diabetes mellitus type II at 20 percent disabling, and intermittent skin rash associated with diabetes mellitus type II at 10 percent disabling. The Veteran’s combined disability rating is 80 percent and as such he does meet the criteria for consideration of TDIU on a schedular basis under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a). The Board notes that the Veteran had kidney disease that he is not service connected for. A review of the Veteran’s VA treatment records does not reflect that the Veteran is unable to work due to his PTSD. A May 13, 2016 nephrology note reflects the Veteran reported he retired from the postal service after 36 ½ years and at the time of the office visit he was doing some custodial work a few hours a week at his church. A May 26, 2016 nephrology note shows that the Veteran reported he was retired and that he stayed active, enjoyed fishing, and attended church. The Veteran’s August 2014 VA diabetes examination reflects that the Veteran’s diabetes is managed by restricted diet and oral medication. He does not require regulation of activities as part of medical management of his diabetes disability. The Veteran reported that he was retired. As of September 2020, the date of the last Board remand, the Veteran had not submitted a VA 21-8940 Application for Unemployability. The Veteran was sent a VA 21-8940 in August 2016 and in September 2020 the RO was asked to send the Veteran a VA Form 21-8940 and asked that he complete the form in its entirety. To date, the Veteran has not returned a completed VA Form 21-8940. A January 2020 VA PTSD examination report reflects that the Veteran’s psychiatric symptoms do not result in total occupational impairment. The Veteran reported that his occupational status had not changed since the 2014 VA examination and he was still retired. He also reported he enjoyed doing yard work, fishing, VFW functions, and attending church. He described his marriage and relationships with his children and grandchildren as fulfilling. A January 2021 VA skin examination for intermittent skin rash does not show that the Veteran’s skin disability renders him unable to work. While the Veteran asserts that his service-connected disabilities render him unable to work, there is no competent or credible medical evidence that suggests that is the case. The Veteran retired from his job with the postal service after more than 37 years and there is no indication that the Veteran could no longer work due to his service-connected disabilities then or now. In reaching the above conclusion, the evidence is against a finding that the Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities. As the preponderance of the evidence is against the Veteran’s claim, the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine enunciated in 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b) is not applicable, as there is no approximate balance of evidence. Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 53 (1990); Ortiz v. Principi, 274 F.3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2001). Thomas H. O'Shay Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board K. Mitchell, 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.