A total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) ensures that a veteran who is unable to work in a substantially gainful occupation due to service-connected disabilities is compensated at the 100-percent disability rate, even when those disabilities do not actually qualify for a 100-percent evaluation under the VA’s rating schedule. Veterans awarded TDIU may be paid over $2,000 more per month than they would be paid based on their “schedular” disability rating. Thus, it is critical for veterans service officers to understand the rules that govern TDIU and how to effectively pursue TDIU for the veterans they represent.

This webinar will cover the following and more:

• The basic rules for obtaining TDIU on both a schedular and extraschedular basis
• Factors the VA must consider when determining if a veteran is cabable of only “marginal employment,” as opposed to “substantially gainful employment”
• The meaning of “protected employment” under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16, as defined earlier this year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Labruzza v. McDonough
• Advocacy advice for obtaining evidence in support of claims for TDIU
• How to fight VA decisions denying TDIU on the basis that the veteran can perform “sedentary” work
• How to determine if a TDIU claim is reasonably raised by the record, when not expressly claimed by a veteran
• The proper effective date for an award of TDIU, including recent caselaw impacting how the VA assigns effective dates for TDIU