Creating an event with a different "status"

I am trying to create an event that has a "status" of "Free". As far as I can tell the functionality is there...
Exchange2010CalendarEvent:

def _parse_event_properties(self, response):
property_map = {
u'subject': {
u'xpath': u'//m:Items/t:CalendarItem/t:Subject',
},
u'location':
{
u'xpath': u'//m:Items/t:CalendarItem/t:Location',
},
u'availability':
{
u'xpath': u'//m:Items/t:CalendarItem/t:LegacyFreeBusyStatus',
},

I am unable to change this value to anything (my version of Outlook defaults to "Busy"). If list my events, with the list_events() function I am able to get the status/availability (free, busy, tentative,etc.) by using status = event.availability when looping through my list of events. Is this an issue with Microsoft? Or can this be fixed? Thanks for your help.

Start with Exchange2010CalendarEvent creation and compare it with _parse_event_properties, especially the availability mapping for LegacyFreeBusyStatus. Trace how list_events() exposes event.availability and determine where a requested status is lost during creation. Done means newly created events retain a requested status such as Free, with existing availability values still readable.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.