The Pony Has Been VALidated

Last Saturday, December 4, The Pony got a letter from the Department of Labor. He was working late, so I sent him a text. He said I could open it and tell him the scoop. It was pretty much a nothing-burger, saying in official language that the DOL was in receipt of his packet for the RECONSIDERATION, and that it was opening his case again, assigned to a different person than made the denial on September 2. 

 

The letter contained a scan of the front of the manila envelope the paperwork had been mailed in. Although it didn't show a date stamp, it showed a bar code tracking thing. So there was no question that it had been mailed in time, even though it took a month to get there. It also said a notice was being sent to The Pony's employer, but they had no say, since they had not contested his original claim. However, if they made any comments about it, The Pony would be given a copy.

When The Pony got home, he took a look at the letter. Shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well. It basically says the guy who was supposed to review it now has finally gotten off his [rumpus] and is reviewing it. Who knows how long THAT will take..."

Then The Pony went to get his laptop, while waiting for the big triangle tub in the master bathroom to fill up for his nightly 2-hour soak. "I tried to see if they sent me this in an email. They sent SOMETHING, but I couldn't get into their system on my phone."

Yes, they'd sent a copy of that letter. But The Pony also found the most amazing thing: TWO MORE correspondences were being sent. With a date of December 3. He couldn't open them, but found a table listing the correspondences, which both gave their status as DECISION.

"It looks like they've already made a decision! And by what this sentence says, I think they revoked the denial. It doesn't say for sure that I'm going to get it. But if it's not denied, and there's a decision, you'd think so... I'm going to wait until I have the hard copy before I ask my union steward about it."

Flash forward to Thursday, December 9. TWO letters came to The Pony from the DOL. Yes, of course he said I could open them. Officially, the denial decision on The Pony's Worker's Compensation claim dated Sept 2 has been VACATED. That's their fancy word for undone. Revoked. Made null and void. Removed. The additional documents The Pony provided substantiate his claim of a workplace injury on July 15, a broken left ankle due to a trip and fall.

THE PONY WILL GET HIS CONTINUATION OF PAY AND MEDICAL EXPENSES!

Now all he has to do is jump through the hoops to submit the forms to get this whole claim going again. You know how THAT went the first time. Hick and I heartily recommend that The Pony use the ONLINE SUBMISSION option this time! The second letter was a packet of instructions how to do that.

Yes, such exciting news news for The Pony, in such a short time since the case was reopened. In addition, he was checking his bank account, and tried the link to his credit card that has been on a "security hold" for two months, due to a slight (legal) name change. The credit card is now working again! We could hardly believe his "luck!" He should go out and buy a lottery ticket! Oh, wait...

I DID buy The Pony a lottery ticket on Thursday, which is how he wanted to be repaid for buying us Chinese food on Wednesday night.

"Get me a $10 ticket, and two $5s. Or a $20 ticket if one catches your eye."

Well. A $20 ticket DID catch my eye. Over at the School-Turn Casey's. I was really disappointed when I got back to T-Hoe, and saw that it was ticket #000. The first one on the roll. I don't like the first ticket. They never win. I was re-thinking my eye-catching skills. The Pony scratched it while eating supper.

 

They never win for ME. The Pony has no trouble winning on #000. That's $100. He got the DOUBLE symbol, and a $50 prize. I took his ticket down to my lair for scanning on the phone app. Just to be sure, even though you can plainly see it.

It was a good day for The Pony.