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.
Kevin Peek is a healthcare attorney in the St. Louis office of Sandberg Phoenix focusing on cases involving high-exposure medical malpractice claims and defense of providers in correctional healthcare.
Aaron Passman is editor of Credit Union Journal, the nation’s leading credit union news resource. He was appointed editor in 2018 after two years as an assistant editor at CUJ and nearly five years as a reporter there. He has worked as a staff writer or freelancer for a variety of publications across the country and is a graduate of the University of Kansas.
Mitch Cook, AIF, CRPS, is an institutional retirement consultant with Lexington, Kentucky-based Unified Trust Company.
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:
