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.
Dana Medlin, NBC-HWC, MBCS, is the Senior Director of Behavior Change & Engagement at RecoveryOne, a leading digital physical therapy solution. A certified health and wellness coach, Dana has deep experience working with people to help them reach their health goals. She is trained in multiple behavior change techniques to help individuals create personalized As a behavior change specialist at RecoveryOne, Dana shapes the solution's digital experience, with the goal of improving user engagement and adherence to their recovery plans.
Naveed Yahya is a director in the valuation advisory group at Stout. He has extensive experience providing professional valuation advisory services in the fields of financial reporting, intellectual property and intangible asset valuations, taxation and corporate transactions.
Loren Lirely is a senior vice president in the accounting and reporting advisory practice of the transaction advisory group at Stout. He has over seven years experience providing accounting and reporting services to both public and private sector clients.
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:
