7.3 – Assignment: Americans with Disabilities Act

Recall in Module 1; you were asked to discuss our digital world, the use of technology, our addiction to technology, etc. You should review your previous consumer-driven comments.

In the scenario below, you will now be in the business entity side of technology; now, you have the new piece of technology. What legal aspects must be considered in the roll-out and use of the organization’s technology?

The Situation

Sally calls, sounding pretty upset. You ask her what happened, “Did you lose a ‘Soufflé’ today or something?” Not laughing, she starts to tell you she read that a franchise business discriminated against a disabled person because the company’s official website did not have an accessibility policy.

A disabled person sued based on denying access to the company’s website and won! You state, “I guess that’s possible. Denial of accessibility is an established legal ground to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)Links to an external site.. But how in the world could a webpage not be accessible to a disabled person? Or, for that matter, how would it be accessible? How does that happen?” Sally replies, “I forgot one thing; the person suing was blind!” “It still doesn’t make sense to me,” you state.

Review the following:

• Dennis Haynes v. Dunkin’ Donuts LLC, et al., No. 18-10373 (11th Cir. 2018) (Justia)Links to an external site.
• W3 Web Accessibility (Web Accessibility Initiative)Links to an external site.

Your Response

You and Sally must investigate the Dunkin’ Donuts® case because your company intends to integrate its webpage and the Device you invented into the core of the business operations. The objective is to avoid the issues raised in the Dunkin’ Donuts® case.

To assist your understanding of the issues in the Dunkin case and assessing the potential for liability claims filed against your company, research and respond to the following questions:

• Using the IRAC format, analyze the facts and issues of the Dunkin’ Donuts® case.
• Identify and analyze the applicable statutory provisions of the ADA and any non-statutory conditions applied as ADA violations committed by Dunkin’ Donuts® by the Judge deciding the case.
• Discuss whether the Dunkin’ case’s conclusion of liability based on the Judge’s decision using a non-statutory basis rather than the law was fair. Should judges be allowed to make law or be restricted to following the law under the Stare Decisis doctrine? Does the Consitution support use of recommendations from a non-legal organization to find businesses liable for violations of the ADA? Or is the legislative process required to make such determinations of law?
• Your second IRAC must analyze your company’s Devices functions and determine the potential implications of those functions violating the ADA or other employee rights or privacy regulations. In your review, include applicable ADA statutory sections that may impact the Devise’s use in your business.
• Identify and recommend potential operational adjustments you would implement in your business to reduce the possibility of ADA claims filed against your company.
• Identify and list other WEB accessibility initiatives and recommendations that could be implemented to avoid liability claims.

Please note that “yes” or “no” answers, posting keywords without explanation, and one-line, incomplete sentences are unacceptable responses. Responses should be fully developed and incorporate the question in the answer, and analyzed using the statutory requirements. Entries are required to be single-spaced.

Submission Instructions

Upload the following documents:

• IRAC analyses form that includes the related questions for the Dunkin Donuts case
• IRAC analysis form for the company Device, including the associated questions for the company’s Device