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.
Robert Cruz has been with Smarsh for over ten years as the Vice President of Regulatory and Information Governance. His primary objective is to help Smarsh customers stay informed of regulatory developments and deploy best practices in the use of digital communications technology. Robert is a recognized author, speaker, and subject matter expert in the area of digital communications compliance and brings over two decades of leadership in the governance, risk, and compliance market.
Chris Arnold is the Vice President of Contact Center Strategy at ASAPP, where he partners with leading insurance carriers to modernize claims, billing, and customer service operations with AI. With more than 15 years of experience in customer experience transformation and contact center innovation, he specializes in helping enterprises operationalize AI to drive measurable efficiency and improve policyholder satisfaction.
Jenny Small is a partner at Otteson Shapiro, advising banks and fintechs on regulatory compliance and bank transactions. She spent over a decade at the OCC, having served as legal counsel to examiners supervising community, midsize, credit card, technology service providers, trust and novel banks; a licensing analyst on large bank transactions; and a payment policy analyst.
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:
