Following is an excerpt:

For those who have been eagerly anticipating the release of the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed website accessibility regulations for public accommodations under Title III of the ADA (the “Public Accommodation Website Regulations”), the wait just got even longer.  The recently released Spring 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions reveals that DOJ’s Public Accommodation Website Regulations are now not expected until April 2016.  This delay moves back the release date nearly a year from what most had previously anticipated; this summer in advance of July’s 25^th Anniversary of the ADA.  While there was no public statement explaining the release, most insiders believe it has to do with the difficulty of appropriately quantifying the costs and benefits of complying with any promulgated regulations – a necessary step by DOJ for such a rulemaking.

Read the full original post here.

Title III’s overarching obligations that retailers provide individuals with disabilities with full and equal enjoyment of their goods and services and engage in ongoing barrier removal include the requirement to provide and maintain accessible routes (generally, a minimum of 36 inches in width) into the store, to merchandise, and to locations such as check-out and service counters, restrooms, fitting rooms, and other amenities.  Title III’s implementing regulations and related Technical Assistance Manuals clarify that isolated and temporary obstructions to the accessible route do not violate the ADA, if infrequent and promptly removed.

Here, Chapman alleged that Pier 1 violated Title III and related state accessibility laws, by, among other things, repeatedly obstructing its aisles with merchandise, furniture, display racks, and ladders.  Chapman encountered such obstructions on eleven separate visits to a Pier 1 store.  In upholding the district court’s finding of summary judgment for Chapman on the obstructed aisle issue, the Ninth Circuit rejected Pier 1’s argument that these allegations should be excused as mere temporary obstructions and thus, did not violate the law.

The Ninth Circuit’s reasoning suggests helpful guidance for retailers looking to avoid similar lawsuits:

• Adopting policies governing the placement of merchandise to maintain accessible routes, and practices and procedures to help implement those policies (g., regular walks of the store with a tape measure) do not insulate a retailer from liability if, the policies, practices, and procedures are – as in Chapman – ineffective;

• An obstruction is unlikely to be deemed temporary, if retailers place the onus upon the customer to request its removal;

• An obstruction will not necessarily be deemed temporary just because it was created by another patron and not the retailer itself – the retailer has an obligation to maintain its accessible routes;

• Even if individual instances of obstruction when viewed separately might be temporary, a volume of “temporary obstructions” can become sufficiently prevalent to constitute repeated and persistent failures that were not promptly remedied and, thus constitute a violation of Title III; and

• True temporary obstructions – those that are isolated and transitory in nature – g., maintenance equipment being actively used to make repairs or items currently involved in re-stocking merchandise – remain subject to Title III’s exemption to the accessible route requirements.

For additional information please contact Joshua A. Stein.

Noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act just became costlier. Pursuant to an inflation-adjustment formula, on March 28, 2014 the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a final rule raising the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the Civil Rights Division, including those assessed under Title III of the ADA (“Title III”).

Title III prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against disabled individuals with respect to access to goods, services, programs and facilities, and (with limited exceptions) requires public accommodations to make reasonable accommodations so that disabled individuals may equally access these goods and opportunities. Accommodations may include modification of physical space in order to remove physical barriers, the provision of auxiliary aids for communication (such as sign language interpreters, closed captioning, written materials in Braille), and a wide variety of other, context-specific adjustments to the way business is conducted or services are offered.

With the upward adjustment, the maximum civil penalty for a first violation of Title III rises from $55,000 to $75,000, and the maximum civil penalty for a second violation rises from $110,000 to $150,000. The new maximums apply to violations that occur on or after April 28, 2014. The last time these penalties were adjusted for inflation was in 1999.

These penalties can be consequential for small businesses or those with thin profit margins, and can accrue to significant levels for businesses of all sizes if the DOJ finds evidence of repeated violations of Title III. The DOJ’s current ADA enforcement environment is an aggressive one, consistent with the aggressive positions recently taken by many other federal agencies which protect workers’ and civil rights, such as the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance and Programs. The retail and hospitality industries continue to provide inviting targets for the DOJ, particularly high-profile businesses such as top restaurants with celebrity chefs.

The increased penalties are one more reminder that the costs associated with ADA compliance should not be postponed until enforcement – in the form of a civil lawsuit or the DOJ – is knocking at your (hopefully accessible) door.