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.
Justin Berman is a Technical Director at Skybox Security. Berman is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security Professional with a Certified Specialty in AWS Security with over 20 years of experience.
Justin has a passion for IT security beyond the realm of his assigned roles and responsibilities. He is knowledgeable across a great number of security disciplines.
As the General Manager of Dayforce Wallet & Consumer Services at Ceridian, Seth Ross brings nearly 20 years' of experience to oversee the development, launch, and implementation of Dayforce Wallet, Ceridian's market-leading pay solution that enables employees to access their earned wages at any time.
Prior to joining Ceridian, Ross led Green Dot Corporation's Banking-as-a-Service business, where he helped build new, embedded financial services businesses with partners like Apple, Uber, Intuit, Stash and others. Before that, he led the global airline partnerships strategy for American Express and helped launch Amex Advance, a division focused on data commercialization.
Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Joe Bonner is the founder of J. Bonner Consulting and a three-time bank CEO.
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:
