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.
Andrew is the co-founder and co-CEO of Ascend, a modern, all-in-one payments solution purpose-built for insurance with offices in California and New York. Before Andrew's career in insurance, Andrew was an employee at Instacart, where he met colleague and future co-founder Praveen Chekuri. Prior to founding Ascend, Andrew and Praveen co-founded Sheltr, which was acquired by Hippo Insurance in 2019.
Kedar Kamalapurkar is Managing director and a leader in the insurance sector claims practice at Deloitte Consulting LLP. He has nearly 15 years of experience in claims operations, including as a claims adjuster. He has led claims transformations from strategy to execution for many of the major insurance carriers in the United States and Europe. Kedar also holds insurance industry professional designations from CPCU, AIC, API, and AINS.
Michael Cline is Managing Director and Insurance Sector Claims Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP. He has over 28 years of experience in claims operations and technology at insurance companies and the consulting field. He also has insurance industry professional designations from the Insurance Institute of America; CPCU, AIC, API, AIS and AINS. Michael holds an insurance property & casualty adjusters license in the State of Nevada and is an active member of the Insurance Institutes National Claims Interest Group committee.
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:
