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.
Employees can be "all in" no matter where they work, according to Amy Leschke-Kahle of the Marcus Buckingham Co., an ADP company, provided managers are engaged with them.
The agency said lenders should avoid reporting delinquent payments to credit bureaus for consumers who have sought payment relief due to the pandemic.
Andrew Martinez joined National Mortgage News in January 2022. He previously worked at Bisnow, covering commercial real estate news in the Boston region, and prior to that, covered the federal court for the Boston Herald. He began his career in 2015 as the sports editor of the Rio Grande Sun newspaper in Northern New Mexico. He studied journalism and political science at California State University, Northridge, where he was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.
Twitter: @andrewomartinez
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:
