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.
Chris Laumans is product owner at Adyen.
Ookeditse Kamau is a group internal audit manager - IT and projects - at Letshego Holdings Limited.
Chuck Ruzicka is a Vice President of Research and Consulting at Novarica. Prior to joining Novarica he served in a series of senior technology management positions at major insurance and financial services firms and has most recently been an independent consultant. His prior experience includes Liberty Mutual where he was CIO /SVP of their Agency Markets division and subsequently responsible for global infrastructure software and security. Chuck also was CIO at several regional insurance companies and was Vice President at Progressive Insurance where he was responsible for financial system architecture, billing, divisional policy and financial systems. Chuck holds an MBA in Finance from the Ohio State University.
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:
