The Maine fire marshal is retiring from his post next month after a series of employee complaints about workplace culture surfaced when he was nominated to take over the agency in February 2023.

Rich McCarthy. Maine Department of Public Safety.

Richard McCarthy will step down on Aug. 30 to “pursue an opportunity that’s good for him and his family,” Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the department of public safety, which oversees the fire marshal’s office, said in a statement Friday. McCarthy has worked with the agency for 23 years and is retiring in “good standing,” Sauschuck said.

In March 2023, McCarthy promised lawmakers that he would address complaints as fire marshal and agreed to an investigation into the office, which was launched by a legislative committee through a confidential survey of the agency’s employees.

Lawmakers heard additional complaints from employees expressing concern about McCarthy’s nomination as fire marshal because he had served in a position of leadership “amidst a workplace culture rife with misogyny, lack of care for fire victims, and unresponsiveness to employee complaints and community needs.”

The survey uncovered more concerns.

The state’s labor relations board found in January that the office committed a “flagrant violation” of a union contract by telling employees to settle their disputes in a boxing ring. The board also concluded that an unnamed lieutenant changed methods for mileage reimbursements and swapped shifts without going through the collective bargaining process, and that the lieutenant made anti-union comments.

McCarthy told lawmakers in May that his office was “working better as a unit” but still had work to do. The executive director of the union that filed the complaint with the labor relations board in 2022 said employees were disappointed with the steps the agency had taken to improve workplace culture.

Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, said McCarthy made “significant strides in improving morale for the department,” including increased accountability, communication, and access for feedback and concerns.