Justice Dept. Announces Accessibility Agreement with Florida Courts

mz22 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:53:28 +0000

July 2014 – The U.S. Justice Department has announced a settlement with Florida’s Orange County Clerk of Courts to resolve violations regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Orange County Clerk of Courts allegedly failed to provide accessible court documents to a blind attorney, despite repeated requests. The attorney’s appeal for electronic documents, accessible by screen reader technology, was not provided in an accessible format for over four months.

The Orange County Clerk of Courts has agreed to a settlement, providing individuals with disabilities with any official court record document in an accessible format upon request. In accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA requirements, the Clerk of Courts will also make their website accessible to individuals with disabilities, including the blind. Additional settlement conditions include $10,000 in retribution and WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility training.

H&R Block Will Make Website and Apps Accessible

mz22 — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:41:01 +0000

H&R Block

U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0 AA)

DOJ Press Release

March 2014 — H&R Block has entered into a five-year consent decree with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The decree follows complaints by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and two individual plaintiffs that H&R Block violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to ensure accessibility on their website and mobile applications. The complaints highlight that the website and mobile applications are incompatible with many assistive technologies such as screen readers and refreshable Braille displays and failed to provide other accessibility features such as keyboard navigation or captioning. Under the decree, H&R Block will work to enhance the accessibility of their services by ensuring that their website and mobile apps are in compliance with Level AA Success Criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 by January 1, 2015, appointing a web accessibility coordinator, and providing accessibility training for all web content personnel. H&R Block has also been ordered to “pay $45,000 to the two individual plaintiffs, and a $55,000 civil penalty.” Acting Assistant Attorney General, Jocelyn Samuels, notes, “This landmark decree ensures that individuals with disabilities will have an equal opportunity to independently and conveniently obtain information and complete taxes as others do. H&R Block is to be commended for working with the NFB and the Justice Department in resolving to take such steps.”

Wireless RERC - U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)

Justice Dept. Announces Accessibility Agreement with Florida Courts

H&R Block Will Make Website and Apps Accessible