ptsd Can You Work If You're 100%

[PE1]

Can you work even if you're 100%? Not from PTSD. Say a Professional job like a Lawyer, Doctor or Accountant? Those jobs are physically not demanding.

[Pete53]

As many have said if we could work it would be much better but next week I will hit retirement age and although I had to accept that I could not work again in 1996 it will be official.

What a wonderful story of the Iraqi Veteran and I could not be happier. I don't think that I could even walk into a theme park and I would commend whoever operates the park to hire the Veteran.

[carlie]

Bay Pines VAMC would not accept me as a volunteer

stating due to my medical conditions they felt I

would not be dependable to keep with their schedule.

carlie

[tssnave]

I agree w/ most of the comments here.

There is another thing to consider - the VA can drop your 100% schedular rating to 100% IU without telling you (sorry, I don't have the citation but I was shocked when I read that) and then in a year they would send you an income verification sheet, see that you're working, and if it's above the poverty level for one person (doesn't matter if you have 6 rug rats you're feeding) then you've just lost your 100%.

Another thing that really annoyed me in my second Decision is the rater stated that the examiner said I was 100% disabled DESPITE the fact that I went to church - implying that I wasn't really 100% disabled. I could not believe that the VA is going to question whether or not I am truly 100% disabled since I do occasionally go to church (the last refuge of the mentally ill) and furthermore, the VA system, while it looks at your social ability, is supposed to primarily look at whether or not you can hold down a job. Just because I can sit in a pew for an hour does not mean I can work 40.

I am 100% due to sc bipolar disorder (Army didn't "cause" my bp it just started and I was treated for it on active duty which meets the criteria for sc) and there's no way I can hold down a job. I didn't know I could apply for SS after the bp got the better of me. If you can apply for SS (you have to have worked 5 out of the last 10 years) I would def go that route.

Good luck,

TS Snave

[danang_1969]

danang, evandc,& purple, to all a good academic question- What does disabled mean? Two years ago I worked on a case of a young veteran whom was seriously injurd in Iraq. The veteran has an amputation of one lower and one upper limb, needless to say he/she was rated 100% based solely upon his/her amputaions alone. The veteran also had about 10 other injuries rated in excess of 40% each. After about 8 months the veteran asked that the rating be lowered so he/she could go back to work. There was no IU or TDIU for this veteran and he/she had went back to work for a theme park that he/she was previouly employeed with. A letter was sent out to the veteran that stated that he/she could work however and whenever he/she wanted regardless of income- hence the veteran was rated as per the law not based upon unemployablity. So the fact remains and it boils down to the law. If veteran asks for IU benefits then I would say it should granted only if the veteran cannot work- as the law discribes that benefit. If you want to work and you have the IU/TDIU benefit then maybe you should evaluate your situation. Many volunteers at the VAMC's are 100% and do what they do because they want to feel engaged in something and be as active as they can within their limitations.

If they are totally 100% and not drawing UI totally I agree, they should be able to do anything thing they want, including working. I was talking about vets under 100% and drawing UI just to clarify things. I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand me and think I was in favor of putting limits type on the vets you spoke of.

danang_1969

[poolguy11550]

If they are totally 100% and not drawing UI totally I agree, they should be able to do anything thing they want, including working. I was talking about vets under 100% and drawing UI just to clarify things. I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand me and think I was in favor of putting limits type on the vets you spoke of.

danang_1969

Hi danang, I was merely making an academic point based upon some of the postings. I think that we all agree on this. Bottom line each persons disabilities affect them differently from the other and their claim should adjudicated on a case by case level according to the law.

[jbasser]

Ratings are determined by the average impairment of earning capacity.

§ 3.321 General rating considerations.

(a) Use of rating schedule. The 1945 Schedule for Rating Disabilities will be used for evaluating the degree of disabilities in claims for disability compensation, disability and death pension, and in eligibility determinations. The provisions contained in the rating schedule will represent as far as can practicably be determined, the average impairment in earning capacity in civil occupations resulting from disability.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)

(:P Exceptional cases —(1) Compensation. Ratings shall be based as far as practicable, upon the average impairments of earning capacity with the additional proviso that the Secretary shall from time to time readjust this schedule of ratings in accordance with experience. To accord justice, therefore, to the exceptional case where the schedular evaluations are found to be inadequate, the Under Secretary for Benefits or the Director, Compensation and Pension Service, upon field station submission, is authorized to approve on the basis of the criteria set forth in this paragraph an extra-schedular evaluation commensurate with the average earning capacity impairment due exclusively to the service-connected disability or disabilities. The governing norm in these exceptional cases is: A finding that the case presents such an exceptional or unusual disability picture with such related factors as marked interference with employment or frequent periods of hospitalization as to render impractical the application of the regular schedular standards.

(2) Pension. Where the evidence of record establishes that an applicant for pension who is basically eligible fails to meet the disability requirements based on the percentage standards of the rating schedule but is found to be unemployable by reason of his or her disability(ies), age, occupational background and other related factors, the following are authorized to approve on an extra-schedular basis a permanent and total disability rating for pension purposes: the Veterans Service Center Manager; or where regular schedular standards are met as of the date of the rating decision, the rating board.

(3) Effective dates. The effective date of these extra-schedular evaluations granting or increasing benefits will be in accordance with §3.400((1) and (2) as to original and reopened claims and in accordance with §3.400(o) in claims for increased benefits.

© Advisory opinion. Cases in which application of the schedule is not understood or the propriety of an extra-schedular rating is questionable may be submitted to Central Office for advisory opinion.

Cross References:

Effective dates; disability benefits. See §3.400(B). Effective dates; increases. See §3.400(o).

[26 FR 1583, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 29 FR 1463, Jan. 29, 1964; 37 FR 10442, May 23, 1972; 39 FR 5315, Feb. 12, 1974; 39 FR 32988, Sept. 13, 1974; 40 FR 57459, Dec. 10, 1975; 61 FR 20727, May 8, 1996]

Edited December 18, 2008 by jbasser