Credit union trade groups are urging Congress to enact legislation and the Justice Department to issue final rules that would assist businesses in fighting lawsuits contending that their websites violate Americans With Disabilities Act.
At least nine lawsuits have been filed against credit unions alleging that their websites are inaccessible to the visually impaired. All the complaints were filed by one plaintiff who is represented by the same attorney.
As a result, the credit union trade groups are seeking help from the federal government, saying the issue remains unclear and leads to lawsuits.
“The Department of Justice began considering developing regulations to address this topic over seven years ago but never completed the process,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said, in an e-mail sent to member credit unions.
He goes on to urge credit unions to examine their websites to determine what steps they might have to take to avoid being sued.
And Nussle and NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler are urging the House to act on legislation that would give businesses time to make accommodations before an ADA lawsuit could be filed. The two trade groups have asked that the legislation, which does not address websites, be expanded to include them.
On the regulatory front, a bipartisan group of House members, led by Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is circulating a letter urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to re-start the rulemaking process on ADA regulations.
In 2010, the Department of Justice issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking setting ADA standards for businesses with websites. Last year, the Obama Administration opened the comment period for rules.
Subsequently, the Trump Administration placed the rules on the inactive list.
In a draft of the letter they plan to send to Sessions, the lawmakers say that the ADA was written before the dramatic rise of the Internet. As a result, the law does not address accessibility public accommodations that business must have on their websites.
“Without regulation, the disabled community remains at risk of being shut out of certain parts of electronic commerce,” the House members say. “And, members of the business community, including credit unions and community banks, are vulnerable to lawsuits because they are left with no uniform standard by which compliance can be measured.”
Meanwhile, the trade groups are urging Judiciary Committee leaders to push legislation that would help them ward off lawsuits, which they said are unwarranted.
“Credit unions want to make sure their members have the accessibility to the services they need and are in compliance with the ADA; however abusive, frivolous lawsuits must be stopped,” Thaler wrote in his letter.
“These shakedowns are harming credit unions and their members and are making it difficult for credit unions to serve all members including those who are protected by the ADA,” Nussle said, in his letter supporting the House legislation.
