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.
Surjit Chana started his 30-year career in the tech sector at IBM. He is a Harvard advanced leadership fellow and board director at Beneficial State Bank and Bancorp.
Sarah Donahue serves as Vice President of advocacy operations at Health Advocate. She brings over 25 years of experience in healthcare benefits, including 19 years with Health Advocate. In her current role, she oversees a team of more than 250 professionals across advocacy operations, claims and appeals, and care coordination. Sarah has extensive experience managing large-scale client implementations and driving operational excellence.
Jeff Kroeger is President of Insureon, bringing nearly 20 years of commercial insurance experience and deep expertise in small business insurance. He assumed the role following HUB International's acquisition of Insureon in 2022 and leads the company's strategy across customer acquisition, product, technology and agency operations.
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:
