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.
Corinne Carr is a seasoned insurance regulatory and transactional attorney with 30 years of experience, including 15 years as a partner in BigLaw. In private practice, she regularly represented clients whose primary industry is not insurance such as logistics, shipping, marketplace, ecommerce, insurtechs, retail and manufacturing clients. Carr designed and implemented shipping insurance, embedded insurance, product warranty, service contract, and other insurtech programs for companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500s. She is widely recognized as the "go to" resource for designing innovative, but compliant, structures to boost revenue during the purchase and post-purchase customer experience. Corinne joined Route as its chief compliance officer in June 2022.
Mona Shah, JD, MPH, is the senior director of policy and strategy at Community Catalyst, a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all.
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:
