ADA Website Compliance in California: Here's What You Need To Know
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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is a landmark civil rights law passed by the Bush administration in 1990 that focuses on accessibility to protect persons with disabilities against discrimination. Due to this federal law, both government offices and private businesses must ensure that any considered barriers to access are removed to provide equal opportunities to all.
There are five Titles under this law. Today, we're going to focus particularly on the third section of the ADA.
ADA Website Compliance in California
Title III of the ADA particularly covers businesses that operate at a physical location as these are places of public accommodations.
Ever since Seyfarth Shaw, a firm that annually quantifies the number of lawsuits filed for Title III, started recording accessibility violations a decade ago, they have seen marked increases every year. In fact, between 2017 and 2018, there was a significant 177% rise in lawsuits for ADA compliance, with a temporary lull between 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, despite the numerous closures that happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic since the start of 2020, there was still a 12% increase in lawsuits than the 2019 tally.
In the country, New York has been in the lead in the number of lawsuits, followed by Florida and California. In the same report, Seyfarth pointed to the focus of New York attorneys on Braille gift card lawsuits to explain the rise in New York cases, still observing at the same time that the surge really began "in 2017 after New York federal judges allowed website accessibility cases to proceed to discovery".
California trails far behind New York (1,694 cases) with only 223 recorded lawsuits. However, it is important to note that Seyfarth's methodology does not allow them to account for demand letters that do not proceed to court. Still, California's numbers are climbing fast, from just 10 in 2018 to 120 in 2019, and now 223 in 2020.
The Unruh Act
Aside from the ADA, a federal law, another piece of California legislation also protects persons with disabilities. This is the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Under the Unruh Act, plaintiffs can be awarded up to three times in statutory damages or at least $4,000 for each count of violation. This is in stark contrast to the ADA, which only permits attorney's fees and injunctive relief. So this means that if you are caught in violation of the ADA and your business is located in California, your business might find itself doubly in distress due to the provisions of the Unruh Act.
Unfortunately, even if both the ADA and Unruh Act were passed to uphold civil rights, these can also be used by unscrupulous citizens to squeeze money from even the most honest businesses. Statutory damages awarded to plaintiffs through the Unruh Act, in particular, has been reason enough for numerous frivolous claims filed in court against California businesses.
Website Accessibility
It is important to remember that the ADA was written long before the internet became its institution. It is a big part of our lives for many of us from the moment we wake up until the moment before we go to sleep. But just because the ADA does not specifically spell the internet in its minimum anti-discrimination requirements does not mean that damages cannot be claimed for web accessibility violations.
In fact, the Department of Justice made this position crystal clear in this 2018 letter, saying: "The Department first articulated its interpretation that the ADA applies to public accommodations' websites over 20 years ago. This interpretation is consistent with the ADA's title III requirement that the goods, services, privileges, or activities provided by places of public accommodation be equally accessible to people with disabilities."
Even if you don't hear it from the Department of Justice itself, there is no doubt that accessibility requirements should also apply to web content. After all, millions of people access websites every day, and websites should accommodate users anticipating all kinds of needs that barriers may hamper. For example, a website can prove to be inaccessible if it cannot provide closed captioning for audio in videos or alternate text for images used throughout. These are some of the basic accessibility requirements business websites should observe if they want to avoid unnecessary litigation.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
When it comes to website accessibility, the legal rules are not wrought into the ADA, nor are they particularly mentioned in the Unruh Act, a much older law. However, courts are increasingly referring to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for guidance regarding legal claims for online accessibility non-compliance.
The WCAG is written by the World Wide Web Consortium, which pools resources from various web organizations to write these international standards. Currently, the WCAG 2.2 is in development and is set to be released later in 2021. The latest acknowledged version of these standards can be found in the WCAG 2.1.
ADA Compliance for Websites Today
Unruh Act or not, the basic rights of the ordinary consumer must be acknowledged not just for the legal fees you might have to pay for but also for the bigger market you can welcome through compliance with the laws.
In the U.S., there are at least 61 million Americans currently living with disabilities, according to the CDC. If you have a business that provides goods and services to the general populace, it must comply with the ADA. If your physical business' location is in California, it must also comply with the Unruh Act. And if your business has a website address, it must comply with the WCAG 2.1.
Every day, you must expect that there will be at least one user who will visit your online pages which might have a disability, whether through sight, hearing, or learning difficulties. Make no mistake about it, online accessibility is now mandatory, and it will increasingly become so as more people seek essential goods through online means.
A great way to ensure your digital property is accessible is getting a VPAT report, which documents your accessibility. Having a VPAT completed, can not only showcase your commitment to accessibility, but provide additional job opportunities.
Today, there are already many ways to check if your website is accessible to all users. You might even be able to do this on your own through manual testing. But for the best legal guidance, you can seek a free service like the one we provide.
Don't let your company be the next website talked about on California news due to ADA-related violations! Find out if your site is accessible today.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is a landmark civil rights law passed by the Bush administration in 1990 that focuses on accessibility to protect persons with disabilities against discrimination. Due to this federal law, both government offices and private businesses must ensure that any considered barriers to access are removed to provide equal opportunities to all.
There are five Titles under this law. Today, we're going to focus particularly on the third section of the ADA.
ADA Website Compliance in California
Title III of the ADA particularly covers businesses that operate at a physical location as these are places of public accommodations.
Ever since Seyfarth Shaw, a firm that annually quantifies the number of lawsuits filed for Title III, started recording accessibility violations a decade ago, they have seen marked increases every year. In fact, between 2017 and 2018, there was a significant 177% rise in lawsuits for ADA compliance, with a temporary lull between 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, despite the numerous closures that happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic since the start of 2020, there was still a 12% increase in lawsuits than the 2019 tally.
In the country, New York has been in the lead in the number of lawsuits, followed by Florida and California. In the same report, Seyfarth pointed to the focus of New York attorneys on Braille gift card lawsuits to explain the rise in New York cases, still observing at the same time that the surge really began "in 2017 after New York federal judges allowed website accessibility cases to proceed to discovery".
California trails far behind New York (1,694 cases) with only 223 recorded lawsuits. However, it is important to note that Seyfarth's methodology does not allow them to account for demand letters that do not proceed to court. Still, California's numbers are climbing fast, from just 10 in 2018 to 120 in 2019, and now 223 in 2020.
The Unruh Act
Aside from the ADA, a federal law, another piece of California legislation also protects persons with disabilities. This is the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Under the Unruh Act, plaintiffs can be awarded up to three times in statutory damages or at least $4,000 for each count of violation. This is in stark contrast to the ADA, which only permits attorney's fees and injunctive relief. So this means that if you are caught in violation of the ADA and your business is located in California, your business might find itself doubly in distress due to the provisions of the Unruh Act.
Unfortunately, even if both the ADA and Unruh Act were passed to uphold civil rights, these can also be used by unscrupulous citizens to squeeze money from even the most honest businesses. Statutory damages awarded to plaintiffs through the Unruh Act, in particular, has been reason enough for numerous frivolous claims filed in court against California businesses.
Website Accessibility
It is important to remember that the ADA was written long before the internet became its institution. It is a big part of our lives for many of us from the moment we wake up until the moment before we go to sleep. But just because the ADA does not specifically spell the internet in its minimum anti-discrimination requirements does not mean that damages cannot be claimed for web accessibility violations.
In fact, the Department of Justice made this position crystal clear in this 2018 letter, saying: "The Department first articulated its interpretation that the ADA applies to public accommodations' websites over 20 years ago. This interpretation is consistent with the ADA's title III requirement that the goods, services, privileges, or activities provided by places of public accommodation be equally accessible to people with disabilities."
Even if you don't hear it from the Department of Justice itself, there is no doubt that accessibility requirements should also apply to web content. After all, millions of people access websites every day, and websites should accommodate users anticipating all kinds of needs that barriers may hamper. For example, a website can prove to be inaccessible if it cannot provide closed captioning for audio in videos or alternate text for images used throughout. These are some of the basic accessibility requirements business websites should observe if they want to avoid unnecessary litigation.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
When it comes to website accessibility, the legal rules are not wrought into the ADA, nor are they particularly mentioned in the Unruh Act, a much older law. However, courts are increasingly referring to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for guidance regarding legal claims for online accessibility non-compliance.
The WCAG is written by the World Wide Web Consortium, which pools resources from various web organizations to write these international standards. Currently, the WCAG 2.2 is in development and is set to be released later in 2021. The latest acknowledged version of these standards can be found in the WCAG 2.1.
ADA Compliance for Websites Today
Unruh Act or not, the basic rights of the ordinary consumer must be acknowledged not just for the legal fees you might have to pay for but also for the bigger market you can welcome through compliance with the laws.
In the U.S., there are at least 61 million Americans currently living with disabilities, according to the CDC. If you have a business that provides goods and services to the general populace, it must comply with the ADA. If your physical business' location is in California, it must also comply with the Unruh Act. And if your business has a website address, it must comply with the WCAG 2.1.
Every day, you must expect that there will be at least one user who will visit your online pages which might have a disability, whether through sight, hearing, or learning difficulties. Make no mistake about it, online accessibility is now mandatory, and it will increasingly become so as more people seek essential goods through online means.
A great way to ensure your digital property is accessible is getting a VPAT report, which documents your accessibility. Having a VPAT completed, can not only showcase your commitment to accessibility, but provide additional job opportunities.
Today, there are already many ways to check if your website is accessible to all users. You might even be able to do this on your own through manual testing. But for the best legal guidance, you can seek a free service like the one we provide.
Don't let your company be the next website talked about on California news due to ADA-related violations! Find out if your site is accessible today.
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