Rumpke Waste & Recycling, one of the largest family-owned waste and recycling companies in America, was named among the recipients of the prestigious Theo Award, which honors organizations demonstrating excellence in workers’ compensation, injury prevention, and program innovations across industries. In partnership with Charles Taylor, Rumpke built a proactive, team-driven claims program that has kept medical costs falling, return-to-work rates high, and injured workers moving forward.
Background
Founded by the Rumpke family in 1932, Rumpke Waste & Recycling has grown into a team of more than 4,000 associates serving communities across the Midwest. The company has been named a US Best Managed Company by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal for six consecutive years, a reflection of its commitment to both its community and its people. Rumpke’s workers’ compensation program is led by Benjamin Wildenhaus, Workers’ Compensation Manager, and Ann Julien, Workers’ Compensation Administrator, who guide each claim with a focus on care, respect, and safe return to work through what the company calls the “Rumpke Way.”
Challenges
Rumpke wanted to move away from a traditional, reactive workers’ compensation model that created reporting delays, extended disability, and unnecessary claim complexity. Under Wildenhaus and Julien’s leadership, the goal was to reduce lag time, improve medical outcomes, and return injured associates to productive work more quickly through structured early intervention and meaningful transitional duty options.
Solution
Rumpke partnered with Charles Taylor as its Third-Party Administrator in 2014, establishing a collaborative, proactive claims management approach that was further refined following a leadership transition in March 2022. Wildenhaus and Julien have worked closely with our team of adjusters, field case managers, and medical providers to build a program centered on early claim investigation using vehicle camera footage and operational data, rapid triage within 24 hours, and expedited diagnostics that separate acute injuries from chronic ones.
Transitional duty options have expanded as well, including video-based job analyses and temporary at-home assignments that have allowed some injured associates to return to work within days of disability, keeping them engaged and earning a paycheck while a claim’s compensability is still being determined. For more complex or severe injuries, Rumpke brings in vocational specialists, investigators, and legal counsel to help chart the right path forward for the associate.
Results
The results speak to a program built on consistency and collaboration. Through this coordinated team approach between Rumpke leadership and Charles Taylor, medical costs declined 3.4% in 2023 and another 12.1% in 2024. Return-to-work performance has held at 98% for three consecutive years, generating roughly $1.1 million in annual savings on temporary total disability benefits. Safety and claim exposure improved as well, with Rumpke’s OSHA rate dropping from 7.4 in 2022 to 6.4 in 2024. The company now averages fewer than 12 lost-time claims at any given time, with most associates returning to light duty within 90 days or less.
For Benjamin Wildenhaus, Workers’ Compensation Manager at Rumpke, the award recognizes the team effort behind those results.
“This award reflects the work our team puts in every day to take care of our associates and help them get back to work safely. Charles Taylor has been a strong partner in that effort, and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together.”
Together, these outcomes show what the Rumpke Way looks like in practice: a workers’ compensation program built on empathy, teamwork, and a genuine commitment to getting every associate back to the life and work they value. This year’s Theo Award is a well-earned recognition of that commitment.
