By Jonathan Stempel

Home Depot has agreed to pay $72.5 million to end a long-running class-action lawsuit alleging the largest U.S. home improvement retailer underpaid workers in California.

The preliminary settlement was filed late Thursday in a San Francisco federal court, and requires a judge's approval.

Half of the settlement, after taking out legal fees and costs, goes to hourly employees who worked closing shifts and were required to wait off-the-clock after stores were locked.

Another 41% goes to employees who were not paid for time needed to collect and put on aprons, and 9% goes to employees who lost pay because Home Depot rounded their clock-in and clock-out times to the nearest quarter hour.

The settlement covers more than 272,000 people employed by Home Depot in California since March 8, 2012 and is "fair, reasonable and adequate," the plaintiffs' lawyers said.

Home Depot denied wrongdoing, but settled to avoid the burden, cost and uncertainty of litigation, court papers show.

The Atlanta-based retailer said on Friday that it was glad to settle, so it could focus on serving employees and customers.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit began in March 2016, and a trial had been scheduled for this year.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs plan to seek up to $24.2 million, or one-third of the settlement amount, for legal fees, plus up to $3.5 million for expenses.

The case is Utne v Home Depot USA Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-01854.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alexander Smith)