VR&E and TDIU: Can You Do Both?

TDIU pays at the 100% rate when service-connected conditions keep you from holding a steady job. Each time VA grants TDIU, it notifies VR&E. VR&E can then offer an evaluation of whether a job goal is reasonably feasible for you.

By law, your TDIU award notice must explain VR&E and offer that evaluation. VA must also offer counseling and job placement help, whether or not you join a full Chapter 31 program.

If you have TDIU and start vocational rehabilitation, school or training, VA won’t reduce TDIU because of it. There are two exceptions.

First, VA receives evidence of marked improvement in your condition, or of job progress, income and job prospects. That evidence must show you can do the work the training prepares you for. Second, the course’s physical or mental demands are obviously incompatible with total disability.

• VA can’t reduce TDIU just because you started a substantially gainful job, unless you keep that job for 12 months in a row.
• Short breaks in work don’t restart the 12 months.
• To reduce TDIU, VA needs clear and convincing evidence that you can actually work. VA must also follow its reduction-notice rules in 38 CFR 3.105(e).
• You still must report work to VA when it asks.

• Be accurate with your counselor about your limits. Your VR&E records are VA records, and VA may read them later.
• A demanding full-time plan or job goal can raise questions about TDIU. A reduced or part-time course may fit your limits better.
• If you can’t work right now, the Independent Living track may be the better fit.
• Keep copies of your plan, attendance records and any notes about missed days or accommodations.

VR&E doesn’t replace your disability compensation. The subsistence allowance is a separate payment. Your schedular ratings still depend on medical evidence about each condition, not on enrolling in VR&E.

A ClaimScope review checks your ratings against the TDIU thresholds and flags records about work limits. VA may propose reducing TDIU or deny it in a decision you can still have reviewed. ClaimScope then explains the review lanes and the evidence that fits.

General information, not legal advice.