Seventh Circuit Requires Arbitration in Withdrawal Fee Assessment Dispute

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reinforced ERISA?ÇÖs requirement that employers must pursue arbitration to completion, if they want to challenge an assessment of withdrawal liability. The court ruled that an employer was required to continue to arbitrate with a multiemployer pension fund its dispute regarding an increase in withdrawal liability, even though a district court previously ruled that the employer was not required to pay the higher amount of liability while awaiting completion of arbitration. The court found that regardless of earlier court rulings, an employer must exhaust the arbitration process before it can ignore a fund?ÇÖs reassessment demands for increased withdrawal liability payments. National Shopmen Pension Fund v. DISA Industries, Inc., No. 10-1827 (7th Cir. Aug. 8, 2011).