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Must Retailer's Web Site Be Accessible to the Disabled?
In September 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a retailer with physical store locations may be sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act ('ADA'), the Unrue Civil Rights Act (Cal. Civ. Code ' 51(b)) and the California Disabled Persons Act (Cal. Civ. Code ' 54.1(a)(1)), if its Web site is not accessible to the blind. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind v. Target Corp., 452 F. Supp. 2d 946 (9th Cir. 2006). Although the ADA does not impose an affirmative duty on companies to make Web sites accessible to the disabled, the Target decision may represent the tip of a looming iceberg. Companies ' particularly retailers with physical store locations ' that maintain a Web site to enhance the 'full and equal enjoyment of goods and services' offered in physical stores should consider revamping those sites to make them accessible not just to the visually impaired, but also potentially to those who are hearing impaired, learning impaired, or who have limited mobility.
As described below, pure on-line retailers, companies that maintain business-to-business or less public-facing Web sites, as well as companies that communicate with employees through an 'intranet,' also should take notice of and monitor this potential litigation trend. For many organizations, an initial challenge is simply determining who should have accountability for monitoring and evaluating these issues, particularly for organizations that lack a formal compliance oversight function. The risks currently in focus for employers may not cleanly fit within the responsibilities of in-house employment counsel or Human Resources, but the ADA and the Unrue Civil Rights Act are statutes that impact the workplace and, as discussed below, the arguments for Web site accessibility raised in the Target case are important to consider with regard to employees and applicants, particularly for companies that rely on electronic communications and internal and external Web sites to communicate with employees and applicants.
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