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.
The slowest month of job growth since the spring occurred amid the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As CTO of MDGO, Gilad Avrashi spearheads MDGO’s technology vision and direction. Prior to founding MDGO, Avrashi served for six years at Rafael Defense Systems at the National Acoustic Lab, where he headed a team of engineers and researchers and conducted full-scale trials at sea. During his time at Rafael, he also headed the Algorithmics team of several top projects, received 3 Certificates of Merit and was awarded the Ministry of Defense’s prestigious Katzir Grant. Avrashi served as an officer in one of IDF's elite intelligence units. Gilad holds a MSc in Electrical Engineering, Signal Processing and Communication from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology.
There are signs of a slowdown in the economy as businesses continue to struggle with rising COVID-19 infections across the country.
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:
