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.
Kevin Mitchell has been the President of TypTap Insurance Company since October 2019. He has served as a Senior Vice President of HCI, managing HCI's investor relations and reinsurance placement and sales & marketing. Before joining HCI, Mr. Mitchell was an Area Director and Producer for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Prior to being with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. he was a Commercial Lines Producer with Oswald Companies. Mr. Mitchell is a Bowling Green State University graduate, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication and a minor in Marketing.
Doug Kramer, managing director of Neuberger Berman, joined the firm in 2015 and is the head of Institutional Equity and Multi-Asset.
Prior to this position, he co-headed the firm's Quantitative and Multi-Asset team. Doug formerly was CEO at Horizon Kinetics, an investment management firm.
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:
