What Happens If Your Government Website Isn't ADA Compliant?

"We'll get to it eventually" is a common attitude toward website accessibility — until it isn't optional anymore. Here's what actually happens when a government website doesn't meet ADA requirements, and what typically triggers enforcement.

DOJ complaints

Anyone can file a complaint with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division alleging a Title II violation — a resident, an advocacy organization, or a disability rights attorney testing sites in bulk. The DOJ can investigate, and under its 2024 rule, non-compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA by the deadline is itself a violation, regardless of intent.

Private lawsuits

Title II also gives individuals a private right of action — they can sue directly without going through the DOJ first. This is the more common path in practice. A resident who can't access an online permit form, paired with an attorney familiar with ADA litigation, is a real and increasingly common scenario for towns of every size, not just large cities.

Settlement costs and consent decrees

Most ADA web accessibility cases don't go to trial — they settle. Settlements typically require a compliance timeline, ongoing monitoring, and sometimes a monetary payment or attorney's fees. Some result in multi-year consent decrees with court-ordered auditing, which cost far more in time and legal fees than fixing the issues up front would have.

Reputational cost

Local news covers ADA complaints against local governments more often than you'd expect, and "town website inaccessible to blind residents" is not the headline anyone wants next to a re-election campaign or a grant application.

The good news

None of this requires a large budget to avoid. Most enforcement actions target the same handful of issues — see the 5 mistakes we find on almost every government website — and most of them are fixable without a redesign. Start with our compliance checklist, check your actual deadline based on your population size, and if you'd rather have another set of eyes on it, paid plans include free ADA consulting from Chenango Web Design LLC on request.