Back pay timeframe after winning appeal?

[Backpay]

Hello,

Dec 5th I won 2 parts to my appeal and had 1 remanded. 1 of the disabilities awarded is tinnitus. On the VA.gov website it says that it should take 1 to 2 months for the new disability rating to be reflected. It's been over 2 months and nothing. I called the national number and they could only say it was at my RO (that was a month ago) , I contacted my VSO who didn't know anything either. How long does it normally take? I'm going to be out of work for 4 to 6 weeks because of surgery that I have next week.

 

Thanks

[GBArmy]

Call Peggy again. It is possible that the remand is holding everything up. You haven't provided any facts; have you explored getting workman's comp? If your surgery is for a s-c disability, sometimes you are eligible for temp disability comp. For example, if you have s-c prostrate cancer, you can be paid 100% rate for recovery time and then your ar re-evaluated.

[Backpay]

17 hours ago, GBArmy said:

Call Peggy again. It is possible that the remand is holding everything up. You haven't provided any facts; have you explored getting workman's comp? If your surgery is for a s-c disability, sometimes you are eligible for temp disability comp. For example, if you have s-c prostrate cancer, you can be paid 100% rate for recovery time and then your ar re-evaluated.

My surgery is unrelated. I'm having section of colon removed because of recurrent diverticulitis and gallbladder removed at same time for polyps to rule out / prevent cancer.

I'm going to be on short term disability during my recovery time so Ill be making less money during the time I'm out.

Currently rated at 10% and judge ruled in my favor for tinnitus and range of motion for right arm because tenosynovitis and surgery that occurred in service. Remanded issue is for increase in rating for scar from said surgery.

I've called a few times. I've been told that the remanded issue has an order in and that the RO has my file and that it takes time to figure out backpay. They also don't have any estimates on timeframe.

Called back again after almost 3 month mark because the VA website specifically says if the decision resulted in increase in disability rating it should take 1 to 2 months. This time agent I spoke with said that he never even heard about estimates on their website but it would be just that an estimate. So I asked if it would be crazy for it to take 4 months which would be double estimate and he said no. 

In the past when I filed for increase I had it within weeks after exam.

I also asked the person if I could talk to anyone else about the issue and they suggested the BVA but I said it's with RO right and they said yes so the BVA would be no help then they gave me the claims fax number which I don't think will be helpful at all either. 

[Backpay]

19 hours ago, GBArmy said:

C disability, sometimes you are eligible for temp disability comp. For example, if you have s-c prostrate cancer, you can be paid 100% rate for recovery time and then your ar re-evaluated.

 

So I called again.... I was told that the 1 to 2 months timeframe is always listed and essentially means absolutely nothing. Won't lie kind of upsetting especially considering the scandals with VA and wait times for medical care so it seems like they care about appearances vs actually following through of time frames. Was also told the Dec 5th date was the date someone at the RO got my file back from BVA and updated the status. He said it's been in the ready for decision status since Dec 5th and that they need to determine effective dates and percentages and basically go through everything again and there is no way to know if it's actually being worked on or not. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Backpay
Trying to delete quote

[GBArmy]

Backpay You are between a rock and a hard place for sure. Not that it is of any help, but when the remand comes down and they are figuring out back pay, the VA has a real tendency to string you along for a while. Kind of holding up your money, which is no longer the VA's. But that really isn't unusual; they do it to most. The only thing I could think of is to call your congressman's office and see if they can issue a letter of inquirey. Have all the facts, dates, and play upon the fact you will bee out of work with no income for several weeks and the resulting hardship it will bring.. Pick a Congressman who cares about veterans if you can; it would have more clout. I don't know of anything else to tell you. It's their process, they were directed by BVA, and now tey are going to take as long as they want to pay you. Good Luck.

[Backpay]

48 minutes ago, GBArmy said:

Backpay You are between a rock and a hard place for sure. Not that it is of any help, but when the remand comes down and they are figuring out back pay, the VA has a real tendency to string you along for a while. Kind of holding up your money, which is no longer the VA's. But that really isn't unusual; they do it to most. The only thing I could think of is to call your congressman's office and see if they can issue a letter of inquirey. Have all the facts, dates, and play upon the fact you will bee out of work with no income for several weeks and the resulting hardship it will bring.. Pick a Congressman who cares about veterans if you can; it would have more clout. I don't know of anything else to tell you. It's their process, they were directed by BVA, and now tey are going to take as long as they want to pay you. Good Luck.

Thanks for your reply I really appreciate it. The remand was because the examiner didn't get all relevant information needed to determine a proper rating since I disagreed with 0% rating. They also apparently didn't look at more medical records over 2 year period that were related. 

I think your right about congressman. I might try the Whitehouse hotline number first for veteran issues then if that doesn't seem promising reach out to congressman. 

Are there any regulations your aware of for timelines in which VA has to respond to BVA or anything else like that so I can use it to hold feet to fire?

[GBArmy]

I am not aware of any time limits on remand decisions but if you go to their web site, https://www.bva.va.gov/ , there is a tab to contact and also to ask questions. If you find out anything, I'm sure we would like to hear it.Good luck.