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The company that converts the city of Indianapolis’ waste into energy is in a legal dispute with its former national sales director over emails she sent to a personal account before leaving to work for a competitor.
Reworld Waste LLC — formerly known as Covanta — filed a complaint against the former employee, Angela Baker, in Marion County Superior Court in early July, alleging that she forwarded documents containing trade secrets and confidential information to her personal email account both before and after she submitted her notice of resignation on June 1.
The company’s filings said that Baker’s activity triggered an IT alert that resulted in her being fired before her planned resignation date of June 12.
Reworld asked Judge Christina Klineman to find that Baker violated state law, a confidential disclosure agreement and a 2025 sales incentive plan that she signed with the company.
It asked that she be ordered to return all the documents forwarded to her personal account and be prevented from directly or indirectly soliciting any former customer or employee of Reworld in line with the agreements. Reworld asked to be awarded compensation under the Indiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The company also requested that the requests be enforced through a temporary restraining order while the case is litigated.
“The overwhelming majority of files Baker took are confidential and would be invaluable to Reworld’s competitors,” the company said in filings.
But filings from Baker, who now works in a non-sales position for Northstar Recycling Co., said the documents she sent to herself were evidence of work she did that was not compensated by Reworld.
Northstar is both a competitor and customer of Reworld, according to filings.
Baker denied that the actions were in violation of the law or any agreement with Reworld.
“Baker was concerned she may have to pursue legal action to recover wages,” her filings read.
In filings, Baker said Reworld withheld tens of thousands of dollars in wages because she did not sign a 2026 sales incentive plan, which her filings described as containing “unreasonable restrictive covenants and wage forfeiture provisions.”
She opted to resign instead of continue working at Reworld, filings said, but she was fired before her resignation day because she would not sign the 2026 sales incentive plan. The company then wired her $30,000 in 2026 wages shortly after she was fired, though it has not provided information on how it arrived at that number, Baker’s filings said.
Baker’s filings argued that a temporary restraining order was not necessary because she submitted an affidavit agreeing to fully cooperate with a forensic inspection of her personal devices and accounts. She also submitted a letter from Northstar to Reworld that said Baker has not shared any confidential information with the company and that Northstar would not accept the information if she did.
The filings also argued that various elements of the agreements were overly broad and unenforceable.
“The relief Reworld seeks infringes on Baker’s ability to earn a living and encroaches on legitimate competitive practices,” her filings said.
Attorneys for Baker and Reworld did not respond to IBJ requests for comment.
Klineman held a hearing regarding the temporary restraining order on July 14, but has not ruled yet. The judge recently issued an order regarding protected information that may be produced in the discovery process.
Reworld has a contract with Indianapolis to incinerate the bulk of Marion County’s waste through 2035. The steam that is created from Reworld’s incinerator on Harding Street is sold to Citizens Energy Group, which supplies the steam to about 200 commercial, industrial and governmental buildings in downtown Indianapolis.
Citizens and Reworld recently negotiated a less-costly steam supply contract that is under consideration by state regulators.
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