Websites Don’t Need ADA Accessibility-11th Circuit

If Congress wants to include websites under its definition of “public accommodation,” it will have to make that explicit in legislation, per the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in a decision handed down last week. Current law, said the court in Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., applies only to physical locations. With regard to this case, the court said the plaintiff could continue to use the brick-and-mortar store, as he had for years, to avail himself of the service in question: filling prescriptions and utilizing price-reduction coupons. Even those using the website had to pick up their prescriptions at the store, the court noted. Although the authors of this post call this decision “groundbreaking,” they advise employee caution, as the extent to which its conclusions will be echoed in other circuits or in state courts remains to be seen. The 11th Circuit includes Alabama, Georgia and Florida.