tdiu Voc Rehab "limbo" -- No Straight Answer

[Snake Eyes]

Had a nice visit with the Voc Rehab counselor today for orientation. He took all my transcripts, resume, forms and results from my assessment and asked tons of probing questions. All that is what I expected as the VA needs to do its due dilligence for this kind of program.

What I did not expect was to be confronted with two options.... 1). Withdraw from Voc Rehab voluntarily based on "multiple concerns about my employability" with the promise that I could re-apply within a year if my SSDI and TDIU claims are denied... or 2) Continue making the 200 mile round-trip to his office for several months until he could make a final determination that I'm "unemployable".

He was clear that that was the likely outcome based on the interview and his review of my VA records. Unfortunately, he couldn't state clearly one way or the other whether Voc Rehab was feasable or not. He did say that his report would show that there are multiple concerns about my unemployability. He won't be able to file his report for several months (after the TDIU and SSDI claims have had time to resolve.

So now... it looks like I'm in some kind of "Limbo" -- not qualitied enough to continue with a meaningful hope of success and not enough of a history in the VA system to make a clear determination of unemployability.

I don't do well with ambiguity and gray areas. You should either be trainable or not.

Has anyone else had a situation like this (being told you're not likely to be deemed "employable" if continuing the program but cannot say that yet)?

[Gastone]

Snake: Everybodyn at the VA has a Supervisor. !st time I went trru VA Councilar was a big help but we couldn't find anything. So after a few months of trying he said he was taking me off the program and I could re-apply at a later date. Now he was aware that I had an IU comp claim pending. We had a long discussion before I agrred to be dismissed without prejudice. He said he could give me a letter stating that I was ineligible for VOC Rehab due to my SC conditions, but that letter carried certain consequences. As a matter of fact, a VA IU rater had visited his office regarding my IU claim. My councilar wasn't in and the VA rater never returned. When I got a copy of my c-File 01/2014, there was no record of the Voc Rehad documents in it.

Beginning of 2014 I decided I needed the Voc Rehab Denial letter from 2012-2013. Recontacted my original Voc Rehab councilar from 2012, said I'd have to refile with knew app.. Three weekjs later had denial letter. Helped me win IU at DRO Personal Hearing 06/27/2014. GET THE DENIAL LETTER!

Semper Fi

Gastone

[Snake Eyes]

I may have to try for the denial at a later date when there is more "evidence" in my record. The counselor stated essentially that while it "LOOKED" like Voc Rehab would be infeasible for me, the determinative SC disabilities only had VA P&C reports and a few related reports from in service. In other words, he was concerned that the record was "too thin" to conclusively state my program was not feasible.

HOWEVER, when you read the narrative on his report, it's almost as if he checked all the boxes, dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's to justify denial.

He was very clear that he didn't think it would be feasible but that he didn't have enough evidence to prove it.... so his strategy was EITHER continue with the program and eventually be turned down or be discontinued with the option of trying again once my disabilities disappear. Not sure, but I think this guy was a little off :-)