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.
Kip Meadows is the founder and CEO of Nottingham, which provides consulting and administration for ETFs, mutual funds and exempt investment pools.
Rob LaHayne is the CEO and co-founder of Leap Health, a new platform providing infusion therapy with at-home, transparent pricing, and major cost savings for employers and patients.
Laurel is the CEO of Candidly. Taylor's vision is to accelerate a debt-free future for all by digitizing the experience of debt management and to embed benefits that address student debt as a new normal within the workplace. Before founding Candidly, Laurel held leadership positions at Google. Laurel has successfully paid off $200,000 of her own student loan debt, and co-authored The Accidental Consequences of Student Debt, an academic research whitepaper examining how healthcare workers are disproportionately affected by student debt, for the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).
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:
