Hearing was the longest 43 minutes of my life
Pretty sure I had my first panic attack.
Both hypothetical workers were “not able to maintain employment”.
Going to go sleep.
Then wait 6-8 weeks.
Realized I should give more information.
I have Long COVID, which took 3 years to get diagnosed.
It has slowly been getting worse, and I ran out of FMLA hours last July, last day of work was in June.
I did not have an attorney, but I did have over 800 pages of medical records, letters supporting my claim from my doctors, and prescriptions for permanent handicapped tags and permanent disabled homestead exemption.
The judge was nice, the expert was nice.
The two hypothetical workers were both unable to keep employment (I was moved from a court clerk position to a records position to a scanning old documents before I finally couldn’t work anymore.), so I think that is in my favor.
Every word I expected a “Gotcha” moment, a red light flashing and “DENIED!” To be played over loudspeakers, and security to throw me out.
Going to get a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and nap.