Home → VA Compensation and Pension → Compensation and Employment → Total Disability Based On Individual Unemployability (TDIU)
Once the VA determines that a veteran’s disability is related to his or her military service, it will assign a disability rating according to its schedule for rating disabilities. Disability ratings are expressed as a percentage based on the average impairment of the veteran’s earning capacity. This means that the more severe the veteran’s symptoms are, the bigger the impact becomes on his or her ability to work.
The criteria for many VA 100% disability ratings includes a requirement that the veteran is not able to get or keep a job because of that disability.
What happens when a veteran’s service-connected disability is not severe enough to qualify for a 100% rating under the rating schedule, but the veteran can’t obtain or hold on to a job because of that disability?
Even if your service-connected disability rating is not 100%, VA benefits are available to compensate you at the 100% level in the event that you are not able to work because of your service-connected disability/disabilities. This benefit is called a total (“100%”) rating on the basis of individual unemployability due to service-connected disability (“TDIU” or “IU”). It revolves around the inability to engage in “substantially gainful employment”, meaning a job that pays at least an amount equal to the annual poverty level set by the government.
TDIU entitles service-connected veterans to monthly VA disability compensation payments at the 100% level, even though the severity of their disability does not meet the requirements for a 100% rating under the VA’s rating schedule.
In order to qualify for TDIU, service-connected disabilities must meet minimum rating thresholds:
Entitlement to TDIU generally requires evidence of unemployment due to the disability in question (i.e., employment history or employer records) and medical evidence that the veteran’s service-connected disability renders him or her totally disabled and unemployable (i.e., a doctor’s opinion letter).
The fact that you have a paying job does not automatically disqualify you from being entitled to a TDIU rating. If your salary is substantially less than the prevailing poverty level, or you are working at a job where you are protected from the requirements that someone else in that position would be expected to satisfy (e.g., working for a friend or relative), the VA will not consider you to be gainfully employed. A job with a salary below the poverty level is called “marginal” employment. A job where you are protected from normal work requirements is called “sheltered” employment. Both marginal and sheltered employment are exceptions to the unemployment requirement for TDIU benefits.
TDIU is not necessarily a permanent benefit. The VA may periodically require you to undergo medical examinations to verify whether you are still unable to work due to a service-connected disability.
TIP: Failure to report for such an examination could result in a revocation of TDIU. Likewise, if the VA becomes aware that you are working at a job that is neither marginal nor sheltered while you are receiving TDIU benefits, your TDIU rating could be revoked and you may be liable to the VA for TDIU benefits paid to you after you became employed.
TIP: Veterans should exercise caution even if working as a volunteer. If the VA determines that the nature and amount of even unpaid work that you are performing demonstrates that you are not unemployable, TDIU can be revoked. Anytime the VA revokes a TDIU rating, the amount of disability compensation drops to the level of the veteran’s actual rating under the rating schedule.
