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.
Thomas Wuerz is senior director of renewals and digital compliance at Veritas.
Rob Eberle is CEO of Bottomline Technologies.
Miika Mäkitalo is chief executive officer at M-Files and is responsible for ensuring the strategy, goals, targets and plans are carried out within the organization. In addition, he manages legal affairs and human resource activities for M-Files. Prior to M-Files, Miika held top management positions within the government of Finland and in various governmental agencies. Most recently, Miika served as transportation director in the Finnish Transportation Agency. His responsibilities included managing large national IT systems and projects, creating and executing strategies and processes and managing an annual budget of close to $100 million. Miika has a PhD in industrial engineering and management.
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:
