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.
Joey D’Antoni is a principal consultant at DCAC. With extensive experience in cloud design and architecture, specifically focused on hybrid cloud models, and expert certifications from Microsoft and virtualization software providers, Joey is considered to be a thought leader in cross-platform IT and a frequent speaker at major IT conferences. Joey holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Louisiana Tech and an MBA from North Carolina State University.
David Bermingham is technical evangelist at SIOS Technology. He is recognized within the technology community as a high-availability expert and has been honored to be elected a Microsoft MVP for the past 8 years: 6 years as a Cluster MVP and 2 years as a Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP. David holds numerous technical certifications and has more than thirty years of IT experience, including in finance, healthcare and education.
Vijay Sundaram is chief strategy officer at Zoho where he is responsible for the partner and channel program. He is an entrepreneur and has founded companies that specialize in cloud supply chain software, mobile advertising technology and renewable energy. He has led products, sales, business development and finance teams within these organizations. Vijay has an undergraduate degree in engineering from IIT Madras, and graduate degrees in computer science and in business from NYU and the Wharton School of Business, respectively.
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:
