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.
Alex Burggren serves as VP, consultant relations leader at AccessHope, where he focuses on strengthening relationships with the benefits consultancy community and advancing strategic engagement across the market.
Previously, he held leadership roles at Virta Health and Virgin Pulse (now Personify Health), where he led consultant engagement initiatives supporting employer health innovation. He began his career in health benefits consulting at Mercer and WTW.
Alex holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from the University of California, Davis.
Kimberly Lanham is senior vice president at Mphasis Digital Risk
Mukarram Mawjood is founder and chief investment officer of Bullionite Asset Group, where he helps clients build retirement wealth through self-directed IRAs and alternative assets like real estate, precious metals and crypto.
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:
