tdiu Unemployability With Less Than 50%

[3 years to retire]

Just to update, I applied thru the dav for TDIU in August. I am 40% with the VA (left knee is 30% rt knee is 10%) I also work for the USPS and am a letter carrier. I am approved under owcp with the right knee and cannot perform duties as a letter carrier. I am currently working under a limited duty job offer. Even under limited duty my knees hurt like hell. Can hardly walk at the end of the day. There are no desk jobs for letter carriers in the USPS and to be honest they want to dump me anyway since I no longer can carry mail and am not productive. I am almost 55 years old with 28 years in civil service retirement in Nov of this year. Under the OPM guidelines I can apply and should get an approval for disability retirement but cannot afford it without the va TDIU (I have a family.) I just hand carried all of my owcp doctor documentation yesterday (sept 8th) on my left knee and gave it to the dav personnel in the va hospital to help my claim. So now I wait for the Va. Any suggestions...or comments .... feel free. I will update as I hear from the va. Thanks....

[Guest jstacy]

You should file for an increased rating for the knees. Doesnt OWCP pay the difference between disability and what you are currently making? I used to work at the VA and OWCP paid nurses the difference whan they were hurt or had to retire due to injury.

[3 years to retire]

You should file for an increased rating for the knees.  Doesnt OWCP pay the difference between disability and what you are currently making? I used to work at the VA and OWCP paid nurses the difference whan they were hurt or had to retire due to injury.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

istacy I would be elgible for owcp or disability retirement, as it would be my choice. Owcp is a real bear now a days. They pretty much drive everyone on it crazy. Also they started a program where they judge how much you should be able to earn if you had a job, then deduct that from your 75% of your pay.Say you earned 22 usd per hour at your job before you was injured and they say you got protential to earn 12 usd per hour, then they would pay you 10 usd per hour at 75% which would be 7.50 usd per hour. Now they do not care if you get a job or not, they will still deduct what they say you can protentially earn, and you really cannot challenge it. Plus they are constantly making the postal workers on owcp life hell. I am guessing they are trying to force the injured to select the disability retirement over owcp. You might make less money but you do not have to fight the owcp machine every month. Just my 2 cents.

...I saw on Postal Record web sight that USPS announced that they was putting their outplacement program which was until now a pilot program located in New York, into a nationwide program, which is the program they outsource the injured workers and put them out of their jobs and into the owcp program. Something is in the air. Peace

[john999]

Just to update, I applied thru the dav for TDIU in August. I am 40% with the VA (left knee is 30% rt knee is 10%) I also work for the USPS and am a letter carrier. I am approved under owcp with the right knee and cannot perform duties as a letter carrier. I am currently working under a limited duty job offer. Even under limited duty my knees hurt like hell. Can hardly walk at the end of the day. There are no desk jobs for letter carriers in the USPS and to be honest they want to dump me anyway since I no longer can carry mail and am not productive. I am almost 55 years old with 28 years in civil service retirement in Nov of this year. Under the OPM guidelines I can apply and should get an approval for disability retirement but cannot afford it without the va TDIU (I have a family.) I just hand carried  all of my owcp doctor documentation yesterday (sept 8th) on my left knee and gave it to the dav personnel in the va hospital to help my claim. So now I wait for the Va. Any suggestions...or comments .... feel free. I will update as I hear from the va. Thanks....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

3 Years

If you are willing to change crafts you can probably work as some kind of clerk with a sitdown job maybe. You will probably end up on the nightsifht until you retire. They money will be the same most like but you will lose senority. I was a postal clerk on a limited duty job. You might also start seeing a VA shrink and start complaining about the emotional effects this pain is having on you.

[john999]

You should file for an increased rating for the knees.  Doesnt OWCP pay the difference between disability and what you are currently making? I used to work at the VA and OWCP paid nurses the difference whan they were hurt or had to retire due to injury.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If your knees are sevice-connected you may have a difficulty with OWCP for the same injury or the aggravation of that injury. At some point you have to choose between being compensated by OWCP and the VA for the same injury. I don't know if this is the case.

[Guest jstacy]

istacy I would be elgible for owcp or disability retirement, as it would be my choice.  Owcp is a real bear now a days. They pretty much drive everyone on it crazy. Also they started a program where they judge how much you should be able to earn if you had a job, then deduct that from your 75% of your pay.Say you earned 22 usd per hour at your job before you was injured and they say you got protential to earn 12 usd per hour, then  they would pay you 10 usd per hour at 75% which would be 7.50 usd per hour. Now they do not care if you get a job or not, they will still deduct what they say you can protentially earn, and you really cannot challenge it. Plus they are constantly making the postal workers on owcp life hell. I am guessing they are trying to force the injured to select the disability retirement over owcp. You might make less money but you do not have to fight the owcp machine every month. Just my 2 cents.

...I saw on Postal Record web sight that USPS announced that they was putting their outplacement program which was until now a pilot program located in New York, into a nationwide program, which is the program they outsource the injured workers and put them out of their jobs and into the owcp program. Something is in the air. Peace

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try this search under veterans appeals from VA website. 'Tdiu owcp knees" This may give you some insight about the VA and total unemployability.

[Mike Soumis]

I had a severe GI bleed, I'm a rural carrier, causing a watershed effect of the cervical cord, like a stroke, and my doctors refuse to sign my release to return to work. I've been off since 10-04-04 and just now got SSDI which you have to apply for when applying for disability retirement.. I got word that my disability retirement will be effective 8-01-05 but haven't heard a word since. I've also filed a 1151 claim as my bleed was caused by naproxen which was prescribed by the VAMC. I had a c&p exam on 8-10-05 and am checking the mail everyday hoping to hear from them.