ADA website accessibility for California small businesses

Does California law require website accessibility for a small business?

California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act gives everyone in the state, including people with disabilities, the right to full and equal service in every kind of business. Size doesn’t matter: it covers “all business establishments of every kind whatsoever,” with no exception for small ones. It also says a violation of someone’s rights under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a violation of the Unruh Act too. A second state law, the Disabled Persons Act, has the same link to the ADA.

Neither law names websites. The courts filled that in. The state’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) says courts have read the Act’s accessibility rules to apply to websites of businesses with physical locations. For online-only businesses, CRD says courts have found they aren’t places of public accommodation under the Act. CRD still encourages them to make their sites accessible.

A federal case shows why the storefront matters. In a 2019 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, ruled in a case brought by a blind man who uses screen-reading software. He said he couldn’t order a pizza online from a nearby Domino’s. The court said the ADA applies to the website and app because they connect customers to the physical restaurants. It didn’t decide whether the site actually broke the law; it sent that question back to the lower court. In October 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

So for a café, a shop, a showroom or an office customers visit, assume the website counts. If your crews work at customers’ homes and nobody ever visits your office, where you stand is less clear. Ask a lawyer, and make the site accessible anyway. The work is the same.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 51 (Unruh Civil Rights Act) (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 54 (Disabled Persons Act) (opens in a new tab) · California Civil Rights Department: Discrimination at Business Establishments (Unruh Civil Rights Act) (opens in a new tab) · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Robles v. Domino’s Pizza (2019) (opens in a new tab) · Supreme Court of the United States: Docket 18-1539, Domino’s Pizza v. Robles (opens in a new tab)

What’s at stake if a customer can’t use your site

Under Civil Code section 52, a business found to have broken the Unruh Act is liable for the customer’s actual damages. On top of that comes an amount a judge or jury sets, up to three times the actual damages. That amount is never less than $4,000 for each offense, and the court can add attorney’s fees. CRD’s page also lists damages for emotional distress and punitive damages among the remedies.

A complaint to CRD has to be filed within one year of the act. For lawsuits, CRD says courts have generally applied a two-year limit to the more common claims, though some have used three years. This isn’t legal advice. Confirm with CRD or a lawyer how these rules apply to you. Ask your lawyer too whether any local rules apply where you do business.

No checklist, widget or web builder can promise protection from a claim, and that includes us. What you can control is whether customers with disabilities can actually use the site, and whether you can show what you checked and fixed. The rest of this article covers both.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 52 (opens in a new tab) · California Civil Rights Department: Discrimination at Business Establishments (Unruh Civil Rights Act) (opens in a new tab)

Which standard to aim for when no law names one

No law gives private businesses a website checklist. The Department of Justice says it has no regulation setting detailed website standards for businesses. They have flexibility in how they comply, but they must comply. It points to two standards as helpful guidance: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Section 508 Standards used for federal websites.

WCAG is the one to start with. In the Domino’s case, the Ninth Circuit noted that federal agencies follow WCAG 2.0 level AA for their public content. It added that the Justice Department has required level AA in many settlements. Its current version, 2.2, was published in October 2023 and updated in December 2024. It has three levels, A, AA and AAA. W3C, the group that writes it, says content that meets 2.2 also meets 2.1 and 2.0. That makes WCAG 2.2 level AA the sensible target for a small business site.

You may have seen ADA website deadlines in 2026, 2027 or 2028. Those come from a 2024 Justice Department rule for state and local governments, not private businesses. That rule uses WCAG 2.1 level AA. An April 2026 update moved its dates. Governments with a population of 50,000 or more now have until April 26, 2027; smaller ones and special district governments have until April 26, 2028.

California has tried to write its own website rules. AB 1757 (2023–⁠24) and AB 2190 (2025–⁠26) would each have limited some damages claims over website barriers. Both offered businesses a defense that could rest on posting an accessibility report and fixing what it lists. Both would also have made the companies that build or maintain websites answer for inaccessible work. AB 1757 died in the Senate Appropriations Committee in November 2024. AB 2190 was moved to the Assembly’s inactive file at its author’s request in May 2026. Neither was law when we checked in October 2026.

References: ADA.gov: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (opens in a new tab) · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Robles v. Domino’s Pizza (2019) (opens in a new tab) · W3C WAI: WCAG 2 Overview (opens in a new tab) · ADA.gov: Web and mobile app accessibility rule for state and local governments (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: AB 1757 (2023–⁠24), Accessibility: internet websites (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: AB 2190 (2025–⁠26), Internet website accessibility (opens in a new tab)

What usually blocks customers on a storefront business’s site

The Justice Department’s guidance gives examples of barriers: poor color contrast, images without text alternatives, videos without captions, forms without proper labels, and pages that only work with a mouse. On a small business site they tend to show up in the same few places. Here are some hypothetical examples by trade:

Outside tools count too. If customers book, order or pay through another company’s widget on your site, it’s part of what they experience. Ask each vendor for its Accessibility Conformance Report. That document explains how a product meets accessibility standards, and it’s often written on a template called the VPAT.

• A café posts its menu as a photo or a scanned PDF. A screen reader has no text to read, so a blind customer gets nothing, prices included. Put the menu on the page as text, and while you’re at it, check the prices against California’s all-in pricing rules.
• A furniture showroom’s product photos have no text descriptions, and its cart and filter buttons are icons with no names. A screen reader just announces “button, button, button.”
• A remodeling contractor’s quote request form uses gray hint text instead of labels, so the field names vanish once you start typing. The photo upload can’t be reached with a keyboard. Our guide to what to put on a quote request form covers the fields; each one needs a label that stays put.
• A property management office shows form errors only by turning a box red, so a customer who can’t see color never learns what went wrong.
• A shop puts its hours, address and holiday closures inside a banner image, so they can’t be read aloud or zoomed cleanly.
• An online ordering or booking pop-up from another company traps keyboard users, who can’t close it or reach the button behind it.

References: ADA.gov: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (opens in a new tab) · Section508.gov: Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) (opens in a new tab)

A 30-minute check you can run on your own site

You don’t need special software for a first pass. Pick the pages that matter most: home, menu or services, contact, and anything customers use to book, order or pay. Then work through this list on a computer and on a phone:

W3C calls quick checks like these a first look, not a full review. A page can seem to pass them and still have serious barriers. Free automated checkers help too, but the Justice Department notes that a clean report doesn’t mean everything is accessible. Use both. The same keyboard pass belongs in any website launch checklist. To go further, California’s Commission on Disability Access keeps a list of website accessibility resources.

• Put the mouse away. Press Tab to move forward, Shift+Tab to go back, and Enter or Space to use buttons. You should always see where you are, reach every link and button, and never get stuck in a pop-up.
• Turn on your phone’s screen reader (VoiceOver on iPhone, TalkBack on Android). Try to find your hours and send a request. Listen for images and buttons read out with no name.
• Zoom the browser to 200%. WCAG level AA asks that text can grow that much without losing content or features, so nothing should overlap or run off the screen.
• Check contrast. Level AA asks for a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. A free contrast checker gives you the ratio for any two colors. Watch text placed over photos.
• Look at every image. Photos that carry information, like a dish, a product or a finished job, need a short text description. Purely decorative ones don’t.
• Submit each form empty, then with a mistake. The error should say in words what’s wrong, not only in red, and keep what was already typed.
• Open each PDF, like a menu, price list or form, and try to select a few words. If you can’t, it’s probably a scanned image with no text for a screen reader to read; put that content on the page as text.
• Play every video with the sound off. It needs captions.
• On the phone, tap every button and link. WCAG 2.2 level AA asks for buttons and links at least 24 by 24 pixels, as the browser measures them. Smaller ones need enough space around them, with a few other exceptions. Small, crowded links are a common miss.

References: W3C WAI: Easy Checks, a first review of web accessibility (opens in a new tab) · ADA.gov: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (opens in a new tab) · W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.4, Resize Text (opens in a new tab) · W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) (opens in a new tab) · W3C WAI: What’s new in WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab) · California Commission on Disability Access: Website Accessibility Resources (opens in a new tab)

Why an overlay widget won’t do the work for you

Some products promise to make any site accessible by adding one line of code. The Justice Department says automated checkers and overlays can be helpful tools but need to be used carefully, like a spelling checker. A layer on top of the page can’t be counted on to fix what’s underneath, like a photo-only menu or an unlabeled form.

In April 2025, the Federal Trade Commission approved a final order requiring accessiBe, an overlay company, to pay $1 million. The FTC alleged that its claims that its widget could make any website WCAG-compliant were false, misleading or unsubstantiated. The order also bars the company from claiming its automated products keep sites compliant over time without evidence.

When does an app or builder fit? On Shopify, Square Online, Wix or Squarespace, you can fix a lot yourself. Choose a well-built theme, keep strong contrast and write image descriptions. Put menus in as text, and skip add-ons that open pop-ups. Our comparison of templates and custom websites covers what changes once a theme gets customized. A rebuild only makes sense when the theme or the ordering tool itself is the barrier and you can’t change it.

References: ADA.gov: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (opens in a new tab) · Federal Trade Commission: FTC approves final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million (opens in a new tab)

Keep a record of every check and fix

Accessibility isn’t a one-time job. Each new photo, menu change, page or plugin can bring a barrier back. A simple record shows what you checked, when, and what you fixed. It won’t stop a claim. It does give you, and a lawyer if you ever need one, something concrete to review.

Keep it with the website’s other records, not in someone’s inbox or memory. For each item, write down:

Then publish an accessibility page. W3C says it should include your commitment to accessibility, the standard you aim for, such as WCAG 2.2, and a way to contact you about problems. It also suggests listing known limitations. Date the page, update it when you fix something, and log every message it brings.

Offer a phone number and email as a backup for anyone who gets stuck. Treat them as a backup, not the fix. In the Domino’s case, the court said a phone number alone, without evidence it worked, wasn’t enough to decide the case for the company.

• Each check: the date, the pages or features, how it was done (keyboard, screen reader, zoom, contrast, or an automated tool and its name) and who did it.
• Each problem: what it was, who it affects, and the WCAG item it relates to if you know it.
• Each fix: what changed, the date it went live, and the date someone tested it again.
• Each customer report: the date, what they couldn’t do, how you helped in the meantime (for example, taking the order by phone) and when the fix went live.
• Each outside tool: the booking, ordering or payment widgets on your site, and each vendor’s accessibility report with the date you got it.
• House rules for whoever updates the site, like “every new photo gets a description” and “menus go on the page as text.”

References: W3C WAI: Developing an Accessibility Statement (opens in a new tab) · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Robles v. Domino’s Pizza (2019) (opens in a new tab)

If a demand letter or complaint arrives

Don’t ignore it, and don’t argue with the sender by email or online. Call a lawyer who handles disability access claims, and keep to the dates in the letter. Save a dated copy of the pages it names, along with your accessibility record and any customer messages about the site.

Then fix the barrier it describes, with your lawyer’s advice on timing, and record the fix like any other. If the complaint comes through CRD, it will tell you the next steps. This isn’t legal advice, and the details depend on your case.

How we build accessibility into a website

When we build a website, we can build accessibility in from the start instead of adding it later. That means pages that work with a keyboard and a screen reader, forms with labels and clear error messages, menus and hours as real text, and strong color contrast. Your quote says which checks we run before launch and what record of them you get with the site.

A new website is typically $2,500–$6,000 and takes 3–⁠6 weeks. If your current site mostly works, fixing its menu, forms or booking page is usually a focused fix: $750–$3,000 over 1–⁠2 weeks. Every launch includes 30 days of fixes. After that, a monthly support plan, priced in your quote, can cover fixes, updates and small changes, like new menu text or photo descriptions, as your pages change. Prices are ours as of October 4, 2026.

We can’t promise that any website will never draw a claim, and nobody honestly can. We can build one that customers with disabilities can use, and keep the record that shows what was checked. The first call is free, and you get a fixed price in writing within 48 hours of that call. See how our website design and development works.