The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division requires all websites to adhere to new guidelines for accessibility. Those that don’t are being targeted by costly lawsuits.
Are you in compliance?
Recently, a ruling has been passed declaring the official standard of website accessibility for businesses. Title III of the ADA has mandated that all “places of public accommodation” are required by law to remove any “access barriers” that would inhibit a person with disabilities from accessing the business’ goods or services.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) provide website accessibility standards for every website in the US.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) are a series of enforceable Federal guidelines that explain how to ensure that the content on websites is accessible to those with disabilities. It provides uniform website standards to ensure accessibility for all. This applies to every website in the US, no matter the purpose of the site nor the size of the company. These Federal guidelines may also be enforced on a state level with California being the toughest: if you’re not in compliance, you could pay fines of $4,000 plus attorney fees for each violation. And most websites have potentially hundreds of violations. Do the math.
While many companies that are out of compliance will never be hit with a lawsuit, professional services firms are disproportionately focused on for nuisance litigation in hopes of a settlement. And getting in compliance is far more cost-effective than paying fines or settling.
While this standardization is still ongoing, here at Glyphix we are working with clients to make their websites more compliant. We believe that this best effort will help in minimizing liability should legal action arise.
Want to fix this problem? Call us at 818.704.3994.