The craziest work-from-home expenses of 2020

Employees working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.

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.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE

Damith brings deep technical and executive experience to his role as Loadsure CTO, where he's responsible for strategic technology planning, innovation, and, ultimately, delivery of Loadsure's insurtech platform. In addition, Damith provides a 360-degree view of available technology capabilities, informing strategically sound business decisions by the leadership team.
Prior to joining Loadsure, Damith served as 30dB CTO. There, he architected and built a highly scalable social sentiment engine that delivered real-time insight into both public opinion and what drives it.
It is within the multinational conglomerate, IAC Applications, that Damith grew from senior engineer to technology executive. His responsibilities spanned technology strategy and architecture; business plan development; management; reorganization; and funding of teams across IAC business units, the likes of Pronto, Mindspark, and Ask.com.
As IAC Applications' Vice President of Data, Damith took on broad responsibility for everything from shared data and information strategy to the website, search engine, and its underlying technologies.

Michael Stuart is a behavioral healthcare leader with more than 30 years' diverse experience, ranging from executive management in large behavioral healthcare systems to teaching daily living skills to autistic children. Mike has worked with tens of thousands of people, with a focus on actionable, tangible steps to integrate health and wellness into everyday life. He specializes in teaching the importance of developing and utilizing a strong mindset to address and overcome health and wellness challenges, including addiction and mental well-being. As the Executive Director at AllOne Health EAP, he leads the team in delivering EAP and whole health benefits to organizations, employees and their family members.

 

During her college experience, Sara changed majors multiple times — and found it hard to retain what she was learning without being able to apply it to a specific career path. Upon graduation with her Associate's Degree, Sara was struggling to find a job and debated pursuing her Bachelor's, only to realize her peers with a four-year degree were also struggling in the job market. When she saw a TikTok advertising an opportunity to earn money while being trained for a successful tech career, without having to sit in another lecture hall, she knew she had to try it. Over a year later, she's a data analyst apprentice at Intermountain Health and championing apprenticeships for those who know college isn't their route to success.

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:

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