William McGuire, the former head of UnitedHealth Group Corp., has agreed to pay a hefty $30 million to settle stock-option-dating accusations brought in a class-action lawsuit led by the California Public Employee Retirement System.

The agreement announced Wednesday means McGuire's $30 million will be added to the $895 million settlement reached in July in the class-action suit with UnitedHealth Group and 16 other defendants—all current or former officers or directors.

McGuire, a medical doctor who has denied the backdating allegations, will also return to the company precisely 3.675 million shares—canceling his right to purchase them—according to the agreement. A trial was set to begin later this month in federal court in Minnesota, where UnitedHealth is based.

"This precedent-setting recovery demonstrates that the company's true owners—shareholders—will hold C.E.O.'s accountable for disregarding principled corporate governance," said Peter Mixon, general counsel for Calpers, which represents 1.5 million public employees and their families.

McGuire said in a statement that he was "pleased to be able to help bring the stock-option-dating issues closer to complete resolution." He added that he had done his part to resolve the backdating issues since leaving the company, which he headed for 17 years.

He was forced to resign from his post after an independent committee found that he played a role in setting pricing dates for his stock options.

Last December, he settled with the committee, led by two former Minnesota Supreme Court justices, surrendering options valued at about $320 million, pension payments worth $91 million, and about $8 million in his executive savings account.

The company restated its earnings going back to 1994 and reduced them by $1.53 billion to account for the unrecognized executive compensation.

The former C.E.O. also settled last December with the Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to repay $11 million in gains as well as a $7 million penalty to resolve backdating allegations.

Calpers also announced that UnitedHealth's former general counsel, David Lubben, who resigned along with McGuire in 2006, had agreed to pay $500,000 to settle the class-action suit.

Lubben also settled with the UnitedHealth investigative committee last December, surrendering more than $23 million in compensation and options.

While UnitedHealth had no immediate comment, Calpers noted that the overall class-action settlement was "one of the top 10 securities-fraud class-action recoveries in U.S. history."