Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Alex Astengo is UK country manager for Root and has significant experience working for SaaS platform-based businesses, which offer solutions to insurers, MGAs and brokers. In his role at Root, Alex is developing Root's UK presence with the aim of becoming the go-to platform for insurance businesses intent on growing their digital offering.
Mazi Bahadori is the chief operations officer at Altruist.
A seasoned veteran in financial technology, he previously served as the CCO and director of operations for Aspiration. Prior to this, he worked for PIMCO as VP of Legal and Compliance, for Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor and for Goldman Sachs as a government affairs associate.
Gregg Rozansky is senior vice president and senior associate general counsel of the Bank Policy Institute.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
