When Your Disabilities Affect Your Ability to Work

If you are a veteran with disabilities that make it hard for you to keep a job, you may qualify for unemployment benefits from the VA, otherwise known as Total Disability due to Individual Unemployability (TDIU or IU for short). This means the VA finds that you are entitled to 100 percent compensation. There are a few ways you may qualify for these benefits.

The first is obtaining a service connection for a disability rated 60 percent or more and proving to the VA that you are unable to maintain substantially gainful employment. Another way is service-connecting one disability rated at 40 percent and a combined total disability rating of 70 percent or more, and convincing the VA that you are unable to maintain substantially gainful employment.

If you don’t qualify for IU in either of these ways, your claim may be eligible for extra-schedular consideration. This means that the VA will consider several factors to determine whether your case is so “exceptional” or “unusual” that the regular rating method used by the VA is inadequate. Some of these factors the VA considers include your work history, education, periods of hospitalization and your service-connected disabilities.

After honorably serving your country in the military, you should not be left scrambling just to get by due to a service-connected disability. Let the Berry Law Firm help you file for the benefits that you lawfully deserve. For a free consultation, please call (855) 278-7414 or contact us online.