Website Accessibility Discrimination —
An assertion by people with disabilities (mostly individuals with visual
and, to a lesser extent, hearing impairments) who allege that, because a
company's website is inaccessible to them, the business has violated Title
III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
At least one federal district court has ruled that a business did violate
Title III of the ADA by discriminating against a visually impaired customer who
could not access the company's website.
While there is no federal law requiring companies to adhere to specific Web
accessibility standards, the World Wide Web Consortium (an international
standards organization) has promulgated guidelines aimed at making website
content accessible to people with disabilities. The federal district court
referred to above ruled that compliance with such standards absolves a business
of liability for website accessibility discrimination.
Since persons who bring website accessibility discrimination lawsuits are
almost always customers, rather than employees, website accessibility lawsuits
suits are third-party employment liability claims. Thus, they are addressed by
Coverage B of employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) policies.