Individual Unemployability: Increasing Your Benefit Pay Without Increasing your Rating Percentage
By Douglas I. Friedman of Friedman Law Firm, P.C.
Monday, January 11, 2021
Many veterans do not realize they can increase their monthly disability pay without increasing their percentage for service connected conditions. It’s the best kept secret for VA disability benefits.
How do you do this?
The concept is called TDIU, or Total Disability Individual Unemployability. It is commonly referred to as IU for short, or just Unemployability.
A percentage rating for disability is strictly a medical evaluation. A rating indicates the percentage of loss of earning power from your medical condition. The VA usually assigns the percentage based on a medical exam by one of their chosen medical professionals.
IU, on the other hand, is based partly upon your medical condition, but it also considers what work you could do with your education, work history and skills. Proving you cannot work should entitle you to IU.
How do you prove IU?
You don’t have to be bed-ridden to get IU-- this is a common misconception! You just have to not be able to work enough to earn more than the poverty level, which is about $1200 per month for an individual in 2020. In general, IU means that you cannot work eight hours per day, five days per week, at any kind of job. Or, it means that you would miss too much work each month because of your medical conditions. Proving IU is not just a medical evaluation, but a vocational one. A vocational specialist can evaluate how your symptoms affect your ability to work.
For example, what if you have PTSD and you tend to get angry easily. This may lead to unprovoked arguments with other employees at work. You probably have lost a lot of jobs because of that. While unprovoked anger may not result in a 100% medical rating -- because physically you can perform work --; it may have a big effect on your ability to hold down a job. The vocational specialist will evaluate how this aspect of your PTSD affects your ability to work. That's how you make a case for IU.
We said at the beginning that we were going to explain how to get a benefit amount equal to a 100% rating without actually increasing your service connected percentages. Well, that is what happens if you are awarded IU. Your service-connected percentages would be the same, but you would be paid at the 100% rate.
If you have any questions about IU or any other aspect of VA disability, we are here to help. We know that it is very difficult to get accurate information about VA benefits. If you contact our firm about VA disability, you will speak with an experienced attorney about your case so you can get accurate answers to your questions and you will know if we can help you.
Call us now at 205-879-3033 or email LifeHealth@FriedmanFirmPC.com