Does Your Small Business Need to be ADA Compliant?

As a small business owner, you have probably wondered if the ADA is applicable to your humble store. The short answer to this is yes, however, in some cases, there are provisions in the ADA that do not apply to businesses with limited operations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil rights law that seeks to prevent discrimination on the basis of disability. It doesn’t matter if the disability is psychological or physical. The ADA legally defines disability as an impairment that significantly limits a person’s capability in performing minor and major daily tasks. While the ADA covers obsessive compulsive disorder, for example, it does not include kleptomania in its considerations.

This regulation is divided into five sections or titles. In particular, Title I and Title III are those that can affect small businesses depending on coverage.

Title I: Employment

As the heading says, this section of the ADA concerns employment. Most businesses engaged in commerce cannot function without one or more employees. If your business has 15 or more workers and operates for at least 20 calendar weeks every year, the ADA will definitely apply to you.

The ADA does not only regulate the way persons with disabilities are able to benefit from goods and services. It also protects the rights of eligible individuals to seek employment and advancement in their respective careers. Under the ADA, for instance, you cannot deny a deaf person from applying for a job that only involves the use of hands. But for the same hiring position, you may be allowed to reject an application if the interviewee is someone who does not possess any upper extremities.

If an individual with a disability presents all the necessary qualifications to perform the tasks of a job he or she is applying for, reasonable accommodations must be made by businesses so that this person can be accepted for employment. This is the right to equal opportunity that the ADA wants to protect. These reasonable accommodations also affect three particular aspects of an occupation. As already mentioned, the hiring process is covered by the ADA, but further, if a person with disability is eventually employed, reasonable accommodations are also expected to help him or her do his job as well as enjoy the same benefits that other workers are given.

Considering this situation, a deaf person is hired by a local ice cream parlor. Sometimes, the main task involves serving the ice cream and bringing them to tables of patrons but on busier days, the employee might also be asked to man the cashier and accept orders. It seems a tricky enough situation. A reasonable accommodation in this scenario is by properly informing customers that the employee has a hearing disability. This can easily be done by having a small sign by the counter or having the individual wear the employee name tag with an attached sentence saying, “I have a hearing disability.” As long as the business does not have to go through extraordinary lengths to include a person with disability as a member of their crew, they are required by law to review all qualified applicants.

Title III: Public Accommodations

The other section of the ADA that businesses should strive to obey is Title III. While Title I only regulates establishments that have at least 15 employees, Title III does not discriminate against businesses based on size. Even if your small store only has 2 or 3 employees, the commercial space it uses must adhere to the provisions of this section.

Title III identifies 12 categories or types of public accommodations it covers. These include but are not limited to retail outlets, restaurants, movie theaters, hotels, museums, schools, medical offices, and shopping malls. If your business provides goods and services to the general public, you are covered by this regulation. There are exceptions, however, like in the case of religious entities. Schools and other spaces that are owned by religious organizations are exempt from Title III of the ADA. Commercial buildings that mostly function as offices or warehouses and do not directly deal with the general population are likewise not obligated to fulfill the provisions unless the building undergoes new construction and alterations.

The main cause of concern for public accommodations is the presence of barriers that may deter a person with disability from gainful access. If the removal of a barrier is readily achievable for a facility, they must strive to accomplish this. Although this is expected more from larger businesses that have greater resources, small businesses are likewise hoped to exert effort if it does not involve substantial expense.

The above is also true for businesses that have a presence on the internet. Although the ADA was passed before the internet became a major site of transaction, courts have increasingly come to accept web space as subject to Title III. The internet is a public space that people also access to purchase goods and services. If a small business has its own website, it needs to make sure that screen readers can be used on the text for people who have visual impairment and that subtitles are provided for media that have audio content.

Checking for compliance

Violating the ADA is a risky expense for any business, especially for small businesses that have very limited resources. Nowadays, it is a wise decision to make sure that you are striving to be ADA compliant regardless of the size of your operations.

In California, even a minor business will be subject to at least $4,000 in penalties, under the Unruh Act, if proven to have a violation. This expense can be properly avoided by looking up a California Certified Access Specialist (CASp).  Before you even open your store, check if there is a local CASp who can conduct a survey on your property. CASps are specifically licensed by the government to check for accessibility issues and provide ADA certification. This simple deed can save you a few thousand dollars in fees in the future.

Make sure your small business is ADA compliant today.