Employees Of SBC Sue For Retirement Benefits, Pensions

 HARTFORD (AP) — A group of Connecticut employees of SBC Communications Inc sued the Texas-based communications company this week, claiming it refused to pay employees about $123 million in retirement benefits. The suit also charges SBC has underfunded pension plans.

The lawsuit, filed by former employees of Southern New England Telephone Co in US District Court in Hartford, also sued Cingular, SBC’s wireless subsidiary based in Atlanta.

The former employees claim SBC and Cingular have refused to honor a commitment to give long-serving employees who have not yet retired the full pensions they would receive at age 65. They say they lost large portions of their pension prospects when SNET converted to a different pension plan in 1995.

SBC, based in San Antonio, acquired SNET in 1998.

Beverly Levy, a spokeswoman for SBC in New Haven, would not comment. She said the matter is a “complex issue’’ that has not yet been studied by the company’s lawyers.

The employees involved in the lawsuit are seeking to represent a class of more than 500 workers.