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.
Bob Jones is chairman and chief executive of Old National Bancorp.
Andrew Coen is a Northeast Regional Reporter for The Bond Buyer. His major coverage has included New Jersey’s pension funding challenges, Atlantic City’s credit crisis and ambitious capital projects being undertaken by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He also hosts Bond Buyer podcasts and videos.Previously, Coen was an associate digital editor in SourceMedia’s Investment Advisory Group comprised of Financial Planning, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant and Money Management Executive. He was also reporter for Municipal Finance Today.Prior to arriving at SourceMedia in July 2013, Coen worked at AOL as an editor covering local news for Wantagh-Seaford Patch on Long Island. He also had reporting stints with Crain’s InvestmentNews, Institutional Investor News and Herald Community Newspapers.A Rhode Island native, Coen graduated from Hofstra University on Long Island in 2002 with a B.A. in Print Journalism and minor in History. He was also active in the university’s award-winning radio station, WRHU.
Usama Shamma is a senior program manager / chief data architect for Ejada Systems Co. Ltd. with over 18 years of experience spearheaded the success of multimillion-dollar projects for major clients spanning multiple industries mainly banking and telecom industries. He is a North America and EMEA 2014 & 2015 PMI global congress subject matter expert, and a public technical speaker at international events. He holds a Bachelor degree in computer science. He holds many professional certificates and has been published in a number of publications. Contact him at usama.shamma@gmail.com.
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:
