City Hall is asking a federal court to dismiss a terminated employee’s lawsuit that accuses the city of failing to pay overtime and also of violating the federal Family Medical Leave Act in firing her when she was forced to stay home to care for two sick children.

In the response filed Oct. 8, the city denied Dikiviya T. Howell’s allegations and argued to the court that her case should be dismissed for lack of substantial evidence.

In the suit she filed in September, Ms. Howell claimed that officials in the City of Richmond Finance Department where she worked for four years instituted an “informal policy” in 2016 that prevented her and other tax enforcement employees from receiving overtime.

And when the single mother had to care for her children, she alleged officials interfered with her federally protected right to take medical leave to care for a family member, retaliated by blocking her from working from home and fired her for taking the leave.

In the response filed by two assistant city attorneys, Richard E. Hill Jr. and Wirt P. Marks IV, the city denied Ms. Howell’s allegation of mistreatment while on family medical leave.

Mr. Hill and Mr. Marks wrote that the Finance Department has required employees to seek approval for overtime, but denied that employees were unfairly denied overtime pay. Instead, they wrote that the city followed federal rules and regulations.

Ms. Howell filed the suit seeking reinstatement and back pay.

She had worked for the city since 2006 and joined the Finance Department in 2014 as a tax enforcement officer.

Ms. Howell claimed that she sought to work from home while caring for her two sick children, but was blocked from doing so by the department’s management. She ultimately was fired when she did not obey an order to return to work even though she claims she was still eligible for family medical leave.

The U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia has not set any dates for a settlement conference or a trial. — JEREMY M. LAZARUS