Accessibility: What It Means for Employers

What it means in practice

For a U.S. employer, accessibility duties come from several laws, each with its own coverage test. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs applicants and employees and is enforced by the EEOC. Title III governs businesses that serve the public and is enforced by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act adds duties for federal contractors. Some rules require facilities and systems to be accessible in advance; others require an individualized reasonable accommodation once a specific person needs one. This entry focuses on the first kind and how the two fit together.

Title I: an accessible hiring process. Title I applies to employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year (29 CFR 1630.2(e)). The regulation defines reasonable accommodation in three parts: changes to a job application process so a qualified applicant can be considered, changes to the work environment or the way a job is done, and changes that give equal benefits and privileges of employment (29 CFR 1630.2(o)(1)). Selection criteria that screen out people with disabilities must be job related and consistent with business necessity (29 CFR 1630.10), and tests must measure the skill tested rather than an impaired sensory, manual or speaking skill (29 CFR 1630.11). The EEOC says an employer may tell applicants what the hiring process involves, such as an interview, timed written test or job demonstration, and may ask whether they will need an accommodation for that process. Its example: an employer that cancels a deaf applicant's interview rather than provide a sign language interpreter has violated the ADA.

Title I: accessible workplaces. The regulation lists "making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities" as a form of reasonable accommodation, alongside equipment, adjusted examinations and training materials, and readers or interpreters (29 CFR 1630.2(o)(2)). It is unlawful not to accommodate the known limitations of a qualified applicant or employee unless the employer shows undue hardship, or to deny an opportunity because accommodation would be needed (29 CFR 1630.9). Who qualifies depends on whether an impairment causes a substantial limitation. The EEOC adds that employers need not provide personal use items needed on and off the job, such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses or hearing aids. Workplace equipment and assistive technology provided as an accommodation are covered in our entry on adaptive devices.

Title III: who is a public accommodation. A place of public accommodation is a privately operated facility in one of 12 categories, including restaurants and bars, stores, banks, laundromats, offices of accountants and lawyers, insurance offices and professional offices of health care providers (28 CFR 36.104). DOJ's small business primer says nearly all businesses that serve the public are included "regardless of the size of the business or the age of their buildings." So a business with 8 employees that is too small for Title I can still have Title III duties for its customer areas. Facilities such as office buildings, factories and warehouses that do not provide goods or services directly to the public are "commercial facilities," which DOJ says are only subject to the ADA requirements for new construction and alterations (28 CFR 36.102(c)).

Readily achievable barrier removal. A public accommodation must remove architectural barriers in existing facilities, including structural communication barriers, where removal is "readily achievable," meaning easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense (28 CFR 36.304(a)). Factors include the cost of the action and the resources of the site and any parent company (28 CFR 36.104). The regulation's 21 examples include ramps, widened doors, accessible door hardware, grab bars, flashing alarm lights and accessible parking spaces. Its suggested priorities are entrances from sidewalks, parking and transit, then areas where goods and services are offered, then restrooms (28 CFR 36.304(c)). Where removal is not readily achievable, the business must use readily achievable alternatives, such as curb service, home delivery or retrieving items from inaccessible shelves (28 CFR 36.305). DOJ calls the obligation "a continuing one" and says local building code "grandfather provisions" do not exempt businesses from the ADA.

The 2010 Standards and the safe harbor. New construction and alterations whose last building permit application was certified complete (or, without a permit, whose physical construction started) on or after March 15, 2012 must comply with the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (28 CFR 36.406(a)(3)). For barrier removal, existing elements that comply with the 1991 Standards and have not been altered on or after March 15, 2012 need not be modified to meet the 2010 Standards, but elements the 1991 Standards never addressed, such as swimming pools, play areas and exercise equipment, get no safe harbor (28 CFR 36.304(d)(2)).

Employee work areas. The 2010 Standards define an employee work area as space "used only by employees and used only for work" (106.5). Under 203.9, such areas need only be designed so people with disabilities can approach, enter and exit, plus three specific rules: common use circulation paths (206.2.8, with exceptions such as work areas under 1,000 square feet defined by permanent partitions or casework), accessible means of egress (207.1), and alarm wiring designed so visible alarms can be added where the area has audible alarm coverage (215.3). The advisory to 203.9 notes that reasonable accommodation can include altering spaces, and that designing work areas to be more accessible at the outset avoids more costly retrofits.

Websites and online job applications. DOJ guidance dated March 18, 2022 says Title III requirements apply to what public accommodations offer on the web. DOJ "does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards" for business websites, allows flexibility in how to comply, and points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Section 508 Standards as helpful guidance. Listed barriers include poor color contrast, missing alt text, uncaptioned videos, inaccessible forms and mouse-only navigation; labeling each box of a job application form is its accessible-form example. The guidance states it is not legally binding. DOJ hiring technology guidance from May 12, 2022 says employers should tell applicants about the technology used and how to request an accommodation; its example is an online interview program that fails with a blind applicant's screen reader, where an accessible version may be the accommodation.

State and local government employers. Under 28 CFR 35.200, as amended by an interim final rule effective April 20, 2026, their web content and mobile apps must meet WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA beginning April 26, 2027 for entities with a total population of 50,000 or more, and April 26, 2028 for smaller entities and special district governments, one year later than the original dates.

Section 503 for federal contractors. Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to federal contracts and subcontracts in excess of $20,000 (41 CFR 60-741.4). The required program elements in 41 CFR 60-741.44(b) say contractors must ensure applicants and employees with disabilities have equal access to personnel processes, "including those implemented through information and communication technologies," and encourage, without requiring, accessible technology even absent an accommodation request. Notices must be in a form accessible to the individual, such as Braille, large print or posting at a lower height for a wheelchair user (41 CFR 60-741.5). Written program thresholds and the 2026 rule changes are covered in our affirmative action entry.

Accessible workplace notices. Employers covered by Title VII, the ADA, GINA or the PWFA must post EEOC-approved notices "in an accessible format" where notices to employees and applicants are customarily kept. Failure to post is punishable by a fine of not more than $698 for each separate offense (29 CFR 1601.30, as amended September 30, 2025).

Tax incentives. The Disabled Access Credit equals 50 percent of eligible access expenditures that exceed $250 but do not exceed $10,250 (26 U.S.C. 44(a)). An eligible small business had gross receipts of no more than $1 million or no more than 30 full-time employees in the preceding year, counting as full-time anyone employed at least 30 hours a week for 20 or more calendar weeks, and elects the credit on Form 8826. Eligible expenditures are reasonable, necessary amounts paid to comply with the ADA, such as removing barriers, providing interpreters or readers, and acquiring or modifying equipment; barrier removal for a facility first placed in service after November 5, 1990 does not count (26 U.S.C. 44(c)). The IRS says the credit can be claimed every year access expenditures are incurred. Separately, Section 190 lets a taxpayer deduct qualified architectural and transportation barrier removal expenses instead of capitalizing them, up to $15,000 a year (26 U.S.C. 190). The IRS says both may be used in the same year if expenses meet both sections, with the deduction equal to total expenditures minus the credit. The same amount cannot be both credited and deducted (26 U.S.C. 44(d)(7)).

Example 1: within the credit range. An eligible small business spends $8,000 on a ramp and widened entrance at a building it has used since 1985. The credit is 50 percent of $7,750 ($8,000 minus $250), or $3,875. Under the IRS combined-use rule, the Section 190 deduction would be $8,000 minus $3,875, or $4,125, if the work meets the Section 190 standards.

Example 2: above the cap. The same business spends $14,000. Only expenditures up to $10,250 count, so the credit is 50 percent of $10,000, or the $5,000 maximum. The remaining $9,000 is within the $15,000 Section 190 limit.

Example 3: a larger business. A business with $3 million in gross receipts and 45 full-time employees meets neither test, so no credit; spending $20,000 on qualifying barrier removal yields a Section 190 deduction limited to $15,000 (26 U.S.C. 190(c)). These examples show arithmetic only; confirm eligibility with the IRS or a tax professional.

What the numbers show. In 2025, 22.8 percent of people with a disability were employed, compared with 65.2 percent of those without a disability, and the unemployment rate for people with a disability was 8.3 percent versus 4.1 percent (BLS, People with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics, 2025 annual averages; October 2025 was not collected). In the Job Accommodation Network's cost survey of employers that contacted it from 2019 through 2024, 61 percent of the 1,425 employers reporting cost data said the accommodation cost nothing, and those with a one-time expense reported a median of $300 (JAN, updated September 17, 2025).

Enforcement. A person may sue under Title III for preventive relief such as an injunction, which for barrier violations includes an order to alter facilities (28 CFR 36.501). In a suit by the Attorney General, a court may also award damages to aggrieved persons and civil penalties up to the 28 CFR 85.5 amounts (28 CFR 36.504). Title I charges and damages follow the EEOC process in our ADA entry.

Where states differ. As one example, the California Civil Rights Department says the Unruh Civil Rights Act covers all business establishments of every kind, requires businesses to comply with the ADA, and provides up to three times actual damages and no less than $4,000 in statutory damages. It adds that courts have applied the Act's accessibility provisions to websites of businesses with physical locations, though online-only businesses are not places of public accommodation under it. Check your own state's civil rights or building agency.

FAQ: Can we ask applicants about accommodation? The EEOC says that before an offer you generally may not ask whether an accommodation is needed for the job, except where a disability is obvious or voluntarily disclosed and you could reasonably believe one will be needed.

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