Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) is denied.

Citation Nr: 26001443 Decision Date: 01/30/26 Archive Date: 01/30/26 DOCKET NO. 16-46 699 DATE: January 30, 2026 ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) is denied. FINDING OF FACT The evidence does not indicate that the Veteran is unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment as a result of service-connected disabilities. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for a TDIU are not met. 38 U.S.C. § 1155 (2024); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.321, 3.340, 3.341, 4.16 (2024). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from October 2002 to October 2006. This matter initially came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2013 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ). This case has been before the Board on multiple occasions. In a February 2022 decision, the Board denied the Veteran's claim for a TDIU. The Veteran appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In February 2023, pursuant to a Joint Motion for Remand (Joint Motion), the Court vacated the decision and remanded the case back to the Board. In June 2023, August 2024 and June 2025, the Board remanded the claim to the AOJ for additional development. The case has since been returned to the Board. TDIU Claim The Veteran contends he is unable to maintain substantial gainful employment due to his service-connected disabilities. Initially, the Board finds that there has been substantial compliance with its remand instructions and may now proceed with a decision on the claim. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). In the Joint Remand, the parties agreed that the Board failed to adequately address whether there was substantial compliance with a June 2021 remand directive, which requested information from the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (VAMC). That information has been obtained. In addition, in August 2024 and June 2025 remands, the Board requested that the Veteran be sent an additional VA Form 21-8940 for updated employment information. The Veteran failed to respond to those requests. When contacted by telephone in October 2025, he indicated that he had no further information to report and requested that the claim be decided. The Veteran is currently service-connected for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (70 percent); gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (0 percent prior to April 7, 2016, and 60 percent thereafter); obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) ((50 percent beginning May 23, 2025); lumbosacral strain (0 percent from October 31, 2010, 10 percent from September 5, 2014, and 20 percent from October 23, 2017); tinnitus (10 percent); right lattice degeneration (0 percent) and tinea pedis (0 percent). The Veteran's combined rating is 70 percent beginning December 29, 2011, 80 percent beginning September 5, 2014, 80 percent beginning September 5, 2014, and 100 percent beginning May 23, 2025. Therefore, the Veteran satisfied the threshold minimum percentage rating requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a) for a TDIU during the relevant time period. Entitlement to a TDIU is granted when the evidence shows that a veteran's service-connected disabilities preclude them from securing and following substantially gainful employment consistent with the veteran's education and occupational experience. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16. In making this determination, consideration may be given to the veteran's level of education, special training, and previous work experience, but not to age or to any impairment caused by nonservice-connected disabilities. 38 U.S.C. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16, 4.19. The central inquiry is whether the veteran's service-connected disabilities, on their own, are severe enough to result in unemployability. See Hatlestead v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 524, 529 (1993). The Veteran has an educational achievement background of up to 4 years of college, including a commercial driver's license and criminal justice degree, which it appears he worked on from 2010 to 2014. In his October 2014, September 2021, and October 2021 VA Forms 21-8940 (Veterans Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability), the Veteran claimed that his service-connected psychiatric disorder had affected his employment since service discharge in October 2006 and that he last worked in August 2019 (although he stated in his 2014 submission that he last worked in August 2008, it appears that he was enrolled full time in various educational programs in the interim). He further stated that he became too disabled to work in October 2006, but in a May 2015 education document, it is noted that he had been employed as a janitor for the Jesse Brown VA Hospital since January 12, 2015. It was recommended that his VA Vocational Rehabilitation program be stopped at that time due to his full-time employment. The record also shows employment at the Adam Benjamin VA Outpatient Clinic from 2016 to 2019. The Veteran appears to have worked in a part-time capacity for RadioShack, a tire company, and a school transportation company while he was also enrolled in various educational programs from 2006 to 2014. Information from the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (VAMC) indicated that the Veteran worked full-time from January 2015 to October 2019. The VAMC indicated that there was no record of a request or approval for a reasonable accommodation. The Board does note that a previous VA Form 21-4192 was associated with the claims file in October 2021. That form was completed through the Adam Benjamin, Jr. VAMC, and indicated that the Veteran was employed full-time from January 2014 until August 2019. That form also included the Veteran's income information, which reflected that the Veteran received gross bi-weekly compensation in the amount of $1,490.00; equivalent to approximately $38,000/ year. The reason noted for the end of the employment was simply that the Veteran had "resigned." The Board notes that it appears that the Veteran worked interchangeably between the two locations. In August 2024, the Board noted that the Veteran had yet to comply with the AOJ's request for a complete VA Form 21-8940. Through various filings, the Veteran provided partial information, but far from complete information necessary for full consideration of the instant claim. Although the Veteran had submitted partially complete forms, he demonstrably omitted indispensable information. For example, in February 2024, the AOJ requested that the Veteran provide information concerning his truck driving employment, specifying that a VA Form 21-4192 had not yet been completed. Rather than providing the necessary information on the requested form (21-4192), or completing the request to submit a full 21-8940, the Veteran responded after the issuance of the supplemental statement of the case (SSOC), through a VA Form 21-4138, merely stating that he worked part-time as a truck driver from 2019-2020. Subsequently, in January 2025, VA obtained information directly from Gypsum Express, which indicated that the Veteran was employed as a truck driver from August 2019 to July 2020, and was terminated due to safety violations. His former employer did not indicate the hours the Veteran worked or his earned income. Furthermore, despite the Veteran's assertion that he has not been employed since 2020, his records dispel such notion. In May 2021, the Veteran reported to Emergency Department health personnel that he was a trucker and had recently traveled to Texas and Wisconsin. An additional record from December 2021 reflects that the Veteran reported to health treatment providers that he was on his way to work and unable to discuss rescheduling a medical appointment. In addition, the Veteran's May 2022 VA examination report noted that the Veteran reported previous work as a truck driver and also reflected that he had been employed at the Crown Point Clinic and was on administrative leave. The Board also highlights that during a period for which the Veteran has asserted entitlement to a TDIU, he was earning approximately $38,000/ year through full-time employment, while also completing his bachelor's degree, receiving a BS in Criminal Justice in 2017, according to a May 2018 vocational assessment, which found that the Veteran did not have any employment handicaps. Despite multiple requests for the Veteran to provide a complete and updated VA Form 21-8940, he has failed to do so. In October 2025, a VA representative spoke to the Veteran about possible additional employment that was missing and the Veteran stated that he had no further information to report and wished the claim to be decided. The Board notes that the duty to assist is not a one-way street; the Veteran has a duty to cooperate with VA and facilitate needed development. See Olson v. Principi, 3 Vet. App. 480, 483 (1992); Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 190 (1991). The Board notes that, in order for VA to process claims, individuals applying for VA benefits have a responsibility to cooperate with the agency in the gathering of the evidence necessary to establish allowance of benefits. See Morris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 260, 264 (1991). Here, the Veteran has the unique ability to provide VA with the information needed to adjudicate his claim. His failure to participate in the processing of his claim has frustrated the Board's ability to obtain the information it needs. Based on the available information, the evidence indicates that the Veteran had been either working full time or engaged in part time work and educational attainment since he was discharged from service until October 2019, when he left employment at the VA. Thereafter, the Veteran appears to have been less than forthcoming in his employment reports. As discussed above, the evidence indicates that the Veteran worked as a truck driver with Gypsum Express until July 2020, and other evidence indicates that he has been employed since then. Despite repeated requests for information regarding that employment, the Veteran has failed to provide any additional information. Without that information, the Board is unable to determine when, or if, the Veteran stopped working full-time or his earned income during the appeal period. To date, the Veteran has yet to submit this information, despite it having been specifically requested from him. Based on the available record, the Veteran has not met his burden of establishing entitlement to TDIU. As noted in the Joint Motion, the record contains lay statements and other evidence of record indicating that the Veteran had trouble keeping a steady job because of conflicts, that he lost four jobs due to functional limitations caused by his panic disorder/agoraphobia, and that he had been fired from two jobs due to his impulsive reactions/behavior. The Board has considered this evidence. However, based on the information provided, the Board is unable to determine the veracity of those statements or whether the Veteran is, or has been, engaged in substantially gainful employment. The Board notes that there is both an economic component and a noneconomic component in determining whether a veteran is unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful employment. Ray v. Wilkie, 31 Vet. App. 58, 73 (2019). In this case, as noted above, the Veteran has not provided sufficient evidence that the economic component has been met. Accordingly, the Board finds that the benefit-of-the-doubt rule is not applicable as the evidence weighs persuasively against the claim and is not in approximate balance. Therefore, entitlement to a TDIU is not warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) (2018); Lynch v. McDonough, 21 F.4th 776 (Fed. Cir. 2021) (en banc). Kristin Haddock Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board S. Mishalanie, 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.