Statement of James G. Rizzo, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, National Association of Home Builders

Industry Leaders Roundtable Discussion on Harassment Prevention
March 20, 2019

On behalf of the National Association of Home Builders of the United States (NAHB), I am pleased to participate in the March 20, 2019 Industry Roundtable on Preventing Workplace Harassment.      

By way of background, NAHB is a federation of more than 700 state and local associations, representing more than 140,000 members who build communities, create jobs, and strengthen the economy.  About one-third of NAHB's members are home builders and remodelers, yet they build approximately 80% of the new homes built in the United States every year, both single-family and multi-family.  NAHB's associate members work in closely-related specialties such as sales and marketing, housing finance, and the manufacturing and supplying of building materials.  For more than 75 years, NAHB has served as the voice of America's housing industry.  To that end, we champion laws and regulations designed to ensure that all Americans have access to safe, decent and affordable housing, whether they choose to buy a home or rent.  We also provide educational opportunities, including the International Builders' Show, the single most important event of the year for the home building industry and the world's largest show of its kind for the residential and light commercial construction industry. 

With a staff of 249 employees, NAHB and its members are committed to maintaining workplaces that are free from harassment of any sort.  NAHB is happy to participate in this discussion and add its voice to a topic that is so timely and about which our members have many questions and concerns.  NAHB strives to assist its members in treating individuals with respect and dignity and establishing workplace cultures that promote equal opportunity and environments free of unlawful discriminatory practices such as harassment.  We look forward to working together to help develop practices that will assist the EEOC and the other industry participants in improving responsiveness to this important issue.