Target is sued

Do federal and State disability laws apply to the Internet? 

A Berkeley, CA resident and the National Federation of the Blind are suing Target because they can’t "read" Target’s website. The lawsuit alleges that Target is discriminating against the visually impaired and thereby violating State and federal laws protecting the disabled.  And a court has rejected Target’s initial requests to dismiss the lawsuit, which now is proceeding to trial.

Experts say that there is coding available, without a great cost, that will enable web sites to be "friendly" to sight impaired people. If this is true, one wonders why Target would become the focus of a lawsuit. In the past, America Online (1999) and Southwest Airlines (2002) were both sued and settled out of court, making appropriate changes to their web sites.  After all, if you’re in business, you want to make dealing with you easy and enjoyable. If the cost to do so is not huge, do it!

This philosophy extends (or should) beyond the Internet experience to dealing with your office staff, paying your legal fees, to mention only two other areas of attorney-client interaction!

Categorized in: Technology