[Poll] WFH Meal Reimbursement Policies Forum

[CapKirk]

Starting this thread to see which firms have instituted a work from home meal reimbursement policy. Remember we used to get doordash orders reimbursed for up to $35 if we billed over 10 hours and stayed in office past 8pm. Hearing that some firms are offering this perk if you work 10+ hours (or 5+ hours on the weekends) and treating the reimbursement as taxable income. What kind of wfh reimbursable meal policy has your firm created or are you also eating leftover breadcrumbs?

[Anonymous User]

Pretty sure it’s all taxable to the extent the meals are ordered at home.

[Anonymous User]

Pretty sure it’s all taxable to the extent the meals are ordered at home.

Yes. My firm has still allowed meals WFH but those meals are taxable.

[Anonymous User]

STB does not reimburse. We are definitely a bit behind on compensation compared to more elite firms.

[Anonymous User]

Am law 100 firm (ranked 90s) - no way. No reimbursement for food during WFH regardless of hours worked.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary = $50 taxable reimbursement whenever you bill 10+ hours.

[Anonymous User]

This thread is very helpful in at least one respect, I had not thought about why we couldn’t order food from home. If it’s taxable, I’m perfectly fine not dealing with that hassle.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary = $50 taxable reimbursement whenever you bill 10+ hours.

STB does not reimburse. We are definitely a bit behind on compensation compared to more elite firms.

Interesting, you can see how even super profitable firms take different approaches — some generous, some more conservative (guess you could say cheapskate). Makes you think that, at some level, it’s less about the money / partners’ bottom line, and more about ideology / culture / self-image.

This thread is very helpful in at least one respect, I had not thought about why we couldn’t order food from home. If it’s taxable, I’m perfectly fine not dealing with that hassle.

Hold up, you’re saying you would turn down 35 bucks, if you were told you had to share 30-40% of that with Uncle Sam? I get that the alternative to overpriced delivery is to prepare a low-cost meal at home, but still...

[Anonymous User]

Cleary = $50 taxable reimbursement whenever you bill 10+ hours.

But its not even really a reimbursement - they just automatically add $50 to your next paycheck if you bill more than 10 hours in a day - no need to submit a receipt/doesn't matter if you even ordered food. Not sure if other firms are doing it the same way, but does make life easier.

[Anonymous User]

This thread is very helpful in at least one respect, I had not thought about why we couldn’t order food from home. If it’s taxable, I’m perfectly fine not dealing with that hassle.

Hold up, you’re saying you would turn down 35 bucks, if you were told you had to share 30-40% of that with Uncle Sam? I get that the alternative to overpriced delivery is to prepare a low-cost meal at home, but still...

Anon you quoted. Hell yes. This is the coupon fallacy. If it’s taxable, you are essentially buying takeout with a 60% off coupon. So you 15 dollars to get 35 worth of takeout. That’s a good deal, but it’s only worth it if the alternative you were going to do otherwise was spend more than 15 dollars on an equivalent meal... But here, as you note, that’s not the actual alternative. The real alternative is I spend 8-10 dollars on a home cooked meal, that’s probably both tastier and healthier. Plus, my wife has to eat too, so if I am ordering take out she still needs to either order her own (at full price) or make something for just herself. I’m saving time, but in our partnership we are net zero or worse off. That’s before you even start bringing kids into it.

If I was still single, I might feel differently, but given my current life situation (married, both spouses working from home) taxable takeout is not an enticing proposition.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary = $50 taxable reimbursement whenever you bill 10+ hours.

But its not even really a reimbursement - they just automatically add $50 to your next paycheck if you bill more than 10 hours in a day - no need to submit a receipt/doesn't matter if you even ordered food. Not sure if other firms are doing it the same way, but does make life easier.

This, I could get behind.

[Anonymous User]

STB does not reimburse. We are definitely a bit behind on compensation compared to more elite firms.

What other compensation is STB behind on other than WFM meal reimbursements?

[Anonymous User]

STB does not reimburse. We are definitely a bit behind on compensation compared to more elite firms.

What other compensation is STB behind on other than WFM meal reimbursements?

No Davis Polk special gifts. Also took very long timeline for special bonuses.

[jotarokujo]

This thread is very helpful in at least one respect, I had not thought about why we couldn’t order food from home. If it’s taxable, I’m perfectly fine not dealing with that hassle.

Hold up, you’re saying you would turn down 35 bucks, if you were told you had to share 30-40% of that with Uncle Sam? I get that the alternative to overpriced delivery is to prepare a low-cost meal at home, but still...

Anon you quoted. Hell yes. This is the coupon fallacy. If it’s taxable, you are essentially buying takeout with a 60% off coupon. So you 15 dollars to get 35 worth of takeout. That’s a good deal, but it’s only worth it if the alternative you were going to do otherwise was spend more than 15 dollars on an equivalent meal... But here, as you note, that’s not the actual alternative. The real alternative is I spend 8-10 dollars on a home cooked meal, that’s probably both tastier and healthier. Plus, my wife has to eat too, so if I am ordering take out she still needs to either order her own (at full price) or make something for just herself. I’m saving time, but in our partnership we are net zero or worse off. That’s before you even start bringing kids into it.

If I was still single, I might feel differently, but given my current life situation (married, both spouses working from home) taxable takeout is not an enticing proposition.

impressive you're able to find time to make a tasty and healthy meal at that price point. not being sarcastic, just genuinely impressed

[Anonymous User]

This thread is very helpful in at least one respect, I had not thought about why we couldn’t order food from home. If it’s taxable, I’m perfectly fine not dealing with that hassle.

Hold up, you’re saying you would turn down 35 bucks, if you were told you had to share 30-40% of that with Uncle Sam? I get that the alternative to overpriced delivery is to prepare a low-cost meal at home, but still...

Anon you quoted. Hell yes. This is the coupon fallacy. If it’s taxable, you are essentially buying takeout with a 60% off coupon. So you 15 dollars to get 35 worth of takeout. That’s a good deal, but it’s only worth it if the alternative you were going to do otherwise was spend more than 15 dollars on an equivalent meal... But here, as you note, that’s not the actual alternative. The real alternative is I spend 8-10 dollars on a home cooked meal, that’s probably both tastier and healthier. Plus, my wife has to eat too, so if I am ordering take out she still needs to either order her own (at full price) or make something for just herself. I’m saving time, but in our partnership we are net zero or worse off. That’s before you even start bringing kids into it.

If I was still single, I might feel differently, but given my current life situation (married, both spouses working from home) taxable takeout is not an enticing proposition.

impressive you're able to find time to make a tasty and healthy meal at that price point. not being sarcastic, just genuinely impressed

Crockpots, veggie and bean heavy dishes, Costco for meat and bulk staples, and a chest freezer. Though I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge my wife ends up cooking probably 80% of the time during the week, as she is both better than me and finishes work at a much more reasonable hour.

[Anonymous User]

impressive you're able to find time to make a tasty and healthy meal at that price point. not being sarcastic, just genuinely impressed

I can get 7 meals consisting of entirely protein/vegetables for ~$40 dollars total.

Total time: 4-5 minutes shopping on Amazon Whole Foods.
4-5 minutes unpacking ingredients and dumping them in crock pot.

Even cooking a filet mignon takes about 1 minute of marinade prep and 2-4 minutes of actual cooking based on rareness preference.

I do genuinely wonder how much cooking throughout their lives people who view cooking as time-consuming or overly burdensome have actually done.

[nixy]

Cooking is a pain in the ass and absolutely a burden to do on a regular basis. You're not wrong that it's cheaper and usually healthier, and it certainly doesn't have to take hours, but it takes more than 5 minutes. The only meals that involve nothing more than opening a package into a crockpot are pretty darn boring.

[Anonymous User]

Cooking is a pain in the ass and absolutely a burden to do on a regular basis. You're not wrong that it's cheaper and usually healthier, and it certainly doesn't have to take hours, but it takes more than 5 minutes. The only meals that involve nothing more than opening a package into a crockpot are pretty darn boring.

That is why spices exist.

And most meals can still be done in about 20 minutes at the most.

[jotarokujo]

idk it also requires cleanup and whatnot. not saying biglaw is so busy you can't cook most days but it's something, it's not literally nothing

[Anonymous User]

Doing the dishes by itself (plus drying) can easily take me 30 minutes, sometimes even longer depending on the complexity of the meal and how many breakfast and lunch dishes have piled up from earlier in the day.

But I’m an impoverished law student living in an nyc apartment without a dishwasher — guessing this isn’t a common biglaw problem.

[Anonymous User]

Cooking also takes energy which after 10 hours of billing is hard to come by

[Anonymous User]

But I’m an impoverished law student living in an nyc apartment without a dishwasher — guessing this isn’t a common biglaw problem.

Same here, but there is no way I am living without a personal dishwasher and washer/dryer after law school.

[nixy]

Cooking is a pain in the ass and absolutely a burden to do on a regular basis. You're not wrong that it's cheaper and usually healthier, and it certainly doesn't have to take hours, but it takes more than 5 minutes. The only meals that involve nothing more than opening a package into a crockpot are pretty darn boring.

That is why spices exist.

And most meals can still be done in about 20 minutes at the most.

What do you actually cook? Because “most” meals take more than 20 minutes, plus spices aren’t a magic bullet. Chopping stuff takes more than 20 minutes most of the time. If all you do is dump chicken breasts and a soup packet into a crockpot, that’s one thing, but I don’t want to eat that every night. I agree with the person above who said you still often have time - it’s definitely not impossible - but it’s not nothing at the end of the day, especially when the magic of takeout means I don’t have to do it.

[feminist.supporter]

Cooking is a pain in the ass and absolutely a burden to do on a regular basis. You're not wrong that it's cheaper and usually healthier, and it certainly doesn't have to take hours, but it takes more than 5 minutes. The only meals that involve nothing more than opening a package into a crockpot are pretty darn boring.

That is why spices exist.

And most meals can still be done in about 20 minutes at the most.

What do you actually cook? Because “most” meals take more than 20 minutes, plus spices aren’t a magic bullet. Chopping stuff takes more than 20 minutes most of the time. If all you do is dump chicken breasts and a soup packet into a crockpot, that’s one thing, but I don’t want to eat that every night. I agree with the person above who said you still often have time - it’s definitely not impossible - but it’s not nothing at the end of the day, especially when the magic of takeout means I don’t have to do it.

Meals could take very long, or very quick depending on preferences.

I cook meals every single day almost, because 1. it is cheaper (blow all my budget on other expensive toys), 2. it is actually very therapeutic - a process of making something cooked even though very simple is nice, and 3. has a diet to follow from extensive daily workouts.

Dinners are very simple: a variation of 3 meats (1 pound of salmon fillet/chicken thigh fillet/ribeye steak) + salad with leafs and green pepper. All of those things are readily available from mainstream grocery shops (Wholefoods/Giant/trader joe's) and no chopping is needed. Heat up the pan, spray some oil, put the meat in, put on salt pepper italian seasoning barbeque seasoning and Nando's hot sauce, wait each side is done (3 min for steak, 7 for salmon, 10 for chicken), flip it over, wash the veggies, wait for the other side, there you go. 80 grams of protein + animal fat + good amount of fiber. Shit tastes delicious.

I agree with you if you want variations and restaurant-like deliciousness, then home cooking can get very time consuming. However, if you just want a "good" meal that tastes not bad and nutritious at the same time, it is very doable and doesn't take a whole lot of time. I watch a YouTube video, reply to some non urgent emails, meditate, clean the house when the food is cooking; so I wouldn't say time is "wasted."

[nixy]

Dinners are very simple: a variation of 3 meats (1 pound of salmon fillet/chicken thigh fillet/ribeye steak) + salad with leafs and green pepper. All of those things are readily available from mainstream grocery shops (Wholefoods/Giant/trader joe's) and no chopping is needed. Heat up the pan, spray some oil, put the meat in, put on salt pepper italian seasoning barbeque seasoning and Nando's hot sauce, wait each side is done (3 min for steak, 7 for salmon, 10 for chicken), flip it over, wash the veggies, wait for the other side, there you go. 80 grams of protein + animal fat + good amount of fiber. Shit tastes delicious.

Yeah, this just isn't the kind of meal I like to eat most of the time. Totally get that it works for lots of people, not really my jam. Which again, I get is a me thing and not exactly a cooking thing. But if you don't actually like this kind of meal, you get into more work pretty quickly. (And part of the issue is that when I come home at the end of the day, food I really like is one of the things I look forward to.)

Of course it is possible to make weeknights really easy by batch cooking on the weekends so you have stuff ready to go, but then you have to batch cook.