RETAILING

J.C. Penney Co. in Pension Settlement: The department store chain said it has reached a tentative settlement of a lawsuit over retirement benefits under which its pension plan would pay up to $80 million to current and former personnel. If approved, the settlement could mean additional benefits for tens of thousands of employees amounting to as much as several thousand dollars each. The class action protested the formula that Plano, Tex.-based Penney formerly used to calculate pensions. Using that formula, the company subtracted from an employee’s pension benefits the amounts it estimated the employee would be eligible to receive from Social Security.