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.
Jaclyn DeJohn is the director of economic analysis at SmartAsset.
As a spokesperson for the company she has been cited by Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Insider, Fox News and The Hill, among other media outlets.
John Wu is president of Ava Labs.
Kamron Clifford has extensive experience in product management and leadership roles in the technology and mapping industries. Kamron is currently the Director of Product, Platform & Mobility Intelligence at Arity, where they lead a team in the development of a data ingestion and processing platform. Prior to that, Kamron worked at TomTom, where they held various positions including Director of Product Management and Senior Product Manager. Kamron has also worked at Tele Atlas, San Diego City Schools, University of Southern California, Environmental Careers Organization, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and Public Radio International. Kamron's experience spans across roles in product management, training, teaching, research, and communications.
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:
