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.
Mary Dent is senior advisor at Klaros.
Stacy Miller is a partner, vice president and wealth advisor for Bright Investments in Tampa, Florida. She also served as the chief operations officer and chief financial officer for a national nonprofit honoring the service and sacrifice of the American military.
Stacy has over 25 years of diverse professional experience leading and advising organizations through strategic, operational and financial success.
Daryl Hemeon is a Solutions Architect at Noyo. Before starting at Noyo, he used to build web applications, work on Marketing Technology, and then helped accelerate business problem solving as one of the founding members of the Digital Incubator at Unum. He has always believed that solving problems on the personal level with technology will make our lives better. Daryl currently lives in Cape Elizabeth Maine with his family, where he enjoys all the outdoors that Maine has to offer.
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:
