Website Accessibility Law in New York
New York does not have a California-style statutory damages law specific to accessibility, but it has the country’s most active plaintiffs’ bar for website accessibility claims, filing in federal court under the ADA and, for New York City businesses, potentially under the New York City Human Rights Law as well.
The volume itself is the risk: with more filings originating from New York than any other state, businesses that serve New York customers, or are based there, face a meaningfully higher baseline chance of receiving a demand letter or complaint.
Issues Most Often Cited in New York Claims
Missing form labels
Checkout, account and contact forms without properly associated labels are a frequently cited, easy-to-document issue.
Inaccessible navigation menus
Dropdown and mobile menus that cannot be operated by keyboard or are not announced correctly to screen readers are commonly cited.
Missing alt text on images
Product images, banners and icons published with no alt text remain one of the most common and easiest-to-cite failures.
Low contrast text
Text and interactive elements that fall below WCAG’s minimum contrast ratio are straightforward for an expert to document.
Inaccessible PDFs
Menus, catalogs and forms published as untagged PDFs are frequently cited alongside website issues in filings.
How to Reduce Your Risk
- Fix the highest-volume, easiest-to-document issues first: form labels, navigation, alt text and contrast, since these are what most filings specifically cite.
- If you operate in New York City specifically, review your obligations under the NYC Human Rights Law in addition to the ADA with your attorney.
- Run a free scan above on your homepage and a few key pages, fix issues starting with critical and serious, then rescan to confirm.
- For ongoing protection, AccessBell Pro monitors up to 500 URLs per domain every day and alerts you when something regresses.
Related Guides
New York Accessibility Law Questions
Why does New York have so many website accessibility lawsuits?
New York has the country’s most active plaintiffs’ bar for this type of claim, consistently filing more federal ADA Title III website accessibility lawsuits than any other state.
Is there a New York-specific accessibility law like California’s Unruh Act?
New York does not have an identical statutory-damages law, but New York City businesses may also face claims under the NYC Human Rights Law in addition to the federal ADA. Talk to an attorney about which laws apply to your specific business.
Does this apply to my business if I am not based in New York?
It can. If your website serves New York customers, you can face a claim filed in New York regardless of where your business is headquartered.
Sources
This page explains general legal trends and is not legal advice. Laws and litigation patterns change; talk to an attorney about your specific situation. See our disclaimer.