Adding up numbers should be a simple counting exercise: two plus two equals four, four plus four equals eight, and so forth. The VA has another mathematical system; it is called the combined rating table. This table can be found at: https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/rates-index.asp. The combined rating table provides that, after individual conditions are separately rated, the disabilities are then all combined….

No doubt, most veteran representatives have seen the term sedentary employment appear in many rating and Board decisions concerning TDIU claims. The problem is that this term is not self-defining. In its most common usage, sedentary employment means desk-type work, involving mostly sitting.  But this general definition is too vague to be of any use to VA adjudicators in deciding…

No doubt, most veteran representatives have seen the term sedentary employment appear in many rating and Board decisions concerning TDIU claims. The problem is that this term is not self-defining. In its most common usage, sedentary employment means desk-type work, involving mostly sitting. But this general definition is too vague to be of any use to VA adjudicators in deciding…

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.321(b), a veteran may be entitled to a higher rating for symptoms of his/her service-connected disability than provided by the VA Rating Schedule, if the Schedule does not cover the veteran’s symptoms.  As we all know, the VA Rating Schedule has various diagnostic codes to cover the wide range of disabilities and illnesses. A disability rating…

What To Do When The VA Unreasonably Delays The Development And/Or Adjudication Of A Claim The old saying — “Justice delayed is justice denied” — is no mere cliché for VA veterans. It is a hard fact of life. No doubt, every veteran representative has sad stories to tell about the intolerable delays of their clients’ cases. However, there may…