Raymond Perez is Of Counsel in the firm’s Birmingham and Washington D.C. offices and Chair of the Corporate Compliance and Governance Practice Group as well as Co-Chair of the Workplace Investigations Practice Group. He focuses his practice on advising employers on developing and implementing compliance and ethics programs, codes of conduct, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In connection with compliance programs, Ray also advises clients regarding all manner of workplace investigations, particularly investigations involving executives and significant reputational risks. Ray also advises clients on the interplay between antitrust laws and labor and employment issues and counsels clients on best practices to avoid potential liability. Ray assists clients with their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts such as training, employee surveys, developing mentorship programs, and creating business resource groups.

Ray also works directly with boards of directors to establish compliance reporting systems and diversity and governance objectives and priorities. In addition, he works with clients when negotiating incentive packages as an integral part of the site selection process. Ray supports evaluating site priorities and negotiating local incentives to address tax, infrastructure, worker selection, and training needs.

Prior to joining Fisher Phillips, Ray worked in-house for nearly 30 years at American Honda in various legal and operational roles. In addition to managing day-to-day legal activities for Southeastern manufacturing operations, he served as a Compliance Officer, Division Manager of Government and Community Relations, North American Diversity Committee founding member, and North American 401(k) Fiduciary Committee member. He oversaw complex workplace investigations and negotiated incentive packages in support of new plant site selection and major expansions of existing facilities.

While serving as General Counsel for American Honda’s Southeastern operations, Ray managed government and community relations. In this capacity, he regularly interacted with federal, state, and local officials on all significant regulatory matters impacting the organization. Ray also helped determine the company's position on pending legislation and communicated that information to legislators and regulators at all levels of government.

He developed antitrust training programs for purchasing and human resources personnel. Ray also served as the North American Chief Audit Executive for five years, overseeing all financial and operational auditing (e.g., HR, Safety, Compensation and Benefits, IT, Environmental, Ethics, Purchasing Sales, and Marketing) of the company’s operations, including research and development, manufacturing, sales, and customer financing. He reported to the Board on the performance of over 30 U.S. affiliated companies and recommended enhancements in legal and business operations.

*Ray is admitted in Ohio and District of Columbia, not admitted in Alabama, but is supervised by a licensed Alabama bar member.

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