For years, plaintiffs with hearing and visual impairments have sued companies alleging that their business websites violate the accessibility provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Until recently, the banking industry has not been much bothered by these suits, but this is changing.
Recently, a Texas community bank received a demand letter from a mass torts law firm claiming that the bank’s website did not comply with anticipated Department of Justice accessibility standards. The DOJ is charged with enforcing Title III of the ADA for commercial facilities and public accommodations. Title III provides that, “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of a disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.”
The DOJ had planned to issue Title III regulations earlier this year, but announced that those regulations would not be finalized until 2018. In its announcement, the DOJ said that it would first tackle similar regulations for government entities and federal contractors covered by Title II of the ADA.
However, it appears likely that the DOJ will expect financial institutions to make their websites accessible to disabled consumers based on the agency’s statement that “…the Internet plays a critical role in the daily personal, professional, civic, and business life of Americans. The ADA’s expansive nondiscrimination mandate reaches goods and services provided by public accommodations and public entities using Internet websites.”
In negotiated settlements with non-banking companies, the DOJ has required that the companies modify their websites to align with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 as developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. These guidelines cover a variety of recommendations for making websites accessible to disabled consumers.
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