Beany, my case is very similar to your co-worker. The UK Border Agency in NY acknowledged they received all my documents on 1st September, and they notified me by email that my case is being processed on the 20th September. Up to this point, I don't have any update on it.
I was originally flying to London on the 22nd September, but I have rescheduled everything twice already including another flight from London to Prague and my visa to Prague is going to expire soon. My rescheduled flight to London is on next Thursday (7th, October) and I am so worried now. Do you happen to know if your colleague received an email notifying her the application was being processed? If she did, how many days between the day she got the email and the day she received her visa?
Many many thanks!