Citation Nr: 22012425
Decision Date: 03/03/22	Archive Date: 03/03/22

DOCKET NO. 12-02 339
DATE: March 3, 2022

REMANDED

Entitlement to total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from June 1979 to June 2009.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a September 2010 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

An April 2021 Board decision remanded this matter to develop the Veteran's TDIU claim as it related to her education and employment history.  See April 2021 Board Remand.  That development is complete in substantial compliance with remand directives.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet App 268, 271 (1998).

1. Entitlement to TDIU is remanded.

The Veteran contends that her eye disorder, migraines, vestibular disorder and other service-connected disabilities prevent her from maintaining substantially gainful employment.  See Correspondence, dated September 23, 2021. 

The Veteran is service connected for migraines at 30 percent disabling; a peripheral vestibular disorder at 10 percent disabling; a right knee and left knee strain each at 10 percent disabling; bilateral angle closure glaucoma at 10 percent disabling; left and right carpal tunnel syndrome, each at 10 percent disabling; insomnia at 10 percent disabling; and the following at 0 percent disabling: dyspepsia, allergic rhinitis, acne vulgaris, hemorrhoids, fibroid tumors, abdominal scar, and chin scar.  See July 2021 Rating Decision Code Sheet, pgs. 1-2.

In this case, the RO denied entitlement to a TDIU, in part because her service-connected disabilities were not severe enough and her limitations were due to non-service-connected disabilities.  See August 2021 Statement of the Case, pgs. 20-21.  Entitlement to a TDIU was also denied in part, due to the Veteran's lay statements regarding employment.  In November 2021, the Veteran submitted a Notice of Disagreement indicating that she had been unable to maintain substantially gainful employment due to her service-connected disabilities.  She added that she began an itinerant ministry in 2017, to include a live weekly radio broadcast.  Prior to that, she was a volunteer chaplain and later Resident Chaplain at the VA Medical Center in Hampton, Virginia.  The Veteran stated that her current ministry work allows here to work at her own pace in a less stressful environment.  However, this self-employment is not listed on the most recent report of employment history.  See June 2021 VA Form 21-8940.  As such, the Board notes that it is not clear from the record whether the Veteran is currently engaged in substantially gainful employment or marginal employment. To verify her income, if any, she derives from self-employment, and to show it has been marginal in nature, she should submit earnings information since 2017.

The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:

(Continued on the next page)

 

1. Ask the Veteran to submit documents verifying her income for each year from 2017 to the present.

2. Readjudicate entitlement to a TDIU.

 

 

Christopher J. O'Donnell

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	K. McKenzie, 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.