ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Fire Chief Roderick Williams resigned Thursday amid accusations he harassed and discriminated against a female employee.

In his resignation letter to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Williams denied the allegations.

"I believe the focus of the Orlando Fire Department should be on serving and protecting the residents of Orlando and not on my leadership or my position," he said.

The investigation began in 2017, when the woman filed complaints that she was passed up for promotion because of her gender and was sexually harassed.

A letter of determination from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says evidence gathered in its investigation supports the woman's allegations of discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment and differential treatment by the chief and two deputy chiefs.

The EEOC letter went on to say that the Orlando Fire Department "conducted a faulty and biased investigation" into the woman's allegations of sexual harassment against the fire chief.

It also said OFD's current sexual harassment policy is "deficiently outdated."

A separate investigation by the city, conducted by an independent attorney, determined the woman's claims to be unsubstantiated.

Williams had been an Orlando firefighter for 23 years, his resignation letter said.

In the interim, Kevin Edmonds will oversee the operations of the fire department until a new fire chief is appointed.