California: Accessibility Matters for Business Websites

Website accessibility is an increasingly hot topic. As of January 1, 2020, businesses subject to the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) must make the required consumer notices and information that are posted on company websites reasonably accessible to consumers with disabilities.  Specifically, businesses must follow generally recognized industry standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 2.1 of June 5, 2018, from the World Wide Web Consortium, or provide information on how a consumer with a disability may access the notices in an alternative format.

More recently, in Martinez v. San Diego County Credit Union, a California Court of Appeal recently stated that accessibility standards for public accommodations, as prescribed in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), can apply to a business’s website in cases where utilizing the website grants access to the business’s physical locations, goods, or services.  There, a visually impaired plaintiff sued a credit union whose website was not easily accessible using screen-reading software.

The court noted that the website housed a store locator and information about the credit union’s services, which made it easier for sighted customers to find physical locations to access service.  The link between the customer’s use of the website and their ability to access the physical location of the website and services triggered the ADA accessibility standard.  Ultimately, the court did not determine if the credit union’s website violated the law, but rather stated there was a potential claim for violation of ADA standards.

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