July 10 (Reuters) - AT&T ( T ) agreed to pay $184.1 million

to settle a lawsuit accusing the telecommunications company of

shortchanging about 300,000 current and former employees out of

pension payments, court papers show.

* A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was

filed on Thursday in San Francisco federal court, and requires a

judge's approval.

* AT&T ( T ) was accused of violating the federal Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, by failing to

provide pension payments to married workers that were the

"actuarial equivalent" of payments to single workers.

* Employees said the Dallas-based company used mortality

data that were decades out of date to calculate payments,

causing married workers to receive less.

* According to settlement papers, employees would receive

$149.1 million of additional pension benefits, including $113.5

million for retired employees and $35.6 million for current

employees. Their lawyers may seek up to $35 million to cover

legal fees and costs.

* The lawsuit began in October 2020.

* AT&T ( T ) denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. In a

statement, AT&T ( T ) said it settled to avoid the expense and

distraction of prolonged litigation, and is committed to

following the law in administering its pension benefit plan.