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.
Kirk Chartier is the chief strategy officer at Enova International Inc. and serves on the board of directors of the Online Lenders Association. He joined Enova in 2013 and has worked with the team using its technology and analytics driven online lending platform to develop new products in the U.S. and U.K. Prior to Enova, Kirk was EVP & CMO at optionsXpress, the award-winning online trading platform. He also was interim global product marketing leader at Electronic Data Systems. Kirk has an MBA from Syracuse University, a B.A. in economics from Holy Cross, and a B.S. in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and combat pilot.
Vishal Garg is the CEO of Better
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:
