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.
Madelyn Antoncic, PhD, an economist, is senior advisor to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on SDG Reporting and CEO of the Global Algorithmic Institute. She is the former CEO of the SASB Foundation. She has served as a member of the board of directors of S&P Global Ratings and Fin Tech Acquisition Corp III and IV, and on the board of overseers of Weill Cornell Medicine. Formerly, she was the treasurer and vice president of the World Bank and has held a variety of leadership roles with global financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.
Vice President of Back-Up Care Delivery and Network,
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Eben Novy-Williams is a writer with Bloomberg News.
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:
