Comment 7 for bug 1235420

I hadn't caught your change for bug 1220389. However, that wouldn't apply in this case, as the status is not changing. The copy floats after the check-in, so the NEW and OLD are both effectively 7, bailing immediately from the IF.

Refreshing the object prior to updating would be an option, although it requires another call to pull the data, and it leaves me with the question, is this the only place this phenomenon can occur?

Because this case is unique, in that it occurs when statuses are not really changing, it could coexist with your proposed change to the function.