ADA website lawsuit settlement agreements contain specific requirements with strict deadlines. Most follow a similar structure, and every requirement can be met with the right accessibility consultant, an audit, and project management platform to track remediation from start to finish.
We’ve outlined how Accessible.org services along with our Accessibility Tracker platform can help clients satisfy virtually all requirements resulting from an ADA lawsuit settlement.
| Requirement | What It Means for You |
|---|---|
| Accessibility Consultant | Retain a qualified expert who is knowledgeable in WCAG, the ADA, and assistive technology testing within 3 months. |
| Accessibility Audit | Complete a full manual audit benchmarked by automated and end-user testing within 9 months. |
| WCAG 2.1 AA Conformance | Modify and maintain your website to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA within 18 months. |
| Accessibility Statement | Publish an accessibility statement with contact information within 3 months. |
| Accessibility Training | Train your web design and development team on WCAG 2.1 AA within 18 months. |
| Trained Personnel | Have staff ready to assist users with disabilities who contact you about the website. |
| Letter of Conformance | Provide a letter from your accessibility consultant confirming WCAG 2.1 AA conformance within 18 months. |
What Does the Settlement Agreement Actually Require?
Most ADA website settlement agreements follow a standard template. Timelines vary, but the core requirements stay the same.
One point worth emphasizing: settlement agreements now routinely call out overlay tools by name and state that they do not constitute manual remediation or result in permanent changes to website code. Manual remediation is the only accepted approach.
Every requirement has a defined deadline, and missing one can put you in breach.
How Do You Retain a Qualified Accessibility Consultant?
The settlement requires you to retain an expert knowledgeable about the ADA, WCAG 2.1, and assistive technology. This consultant needs to be involved from the audit through the final letter of conformance.
Accessible.org provides qualified accessibility consultants who work across the full project lifecycle. Our team conducts audits, advises on remediation, validates fixes, and issues conformance documentation. We’ve worked with clients managing settlement agreements and understand the compliance needs that come with them.
The key is continuity. The same person or team who identifies the issues should be validating the fixes and signing off on conformance.
What Does the Accessibility Audit Involve?
The audit must be a systematic manual evaluation of your website’s source code and content. It needs to include automated and end-user testing, with end-user testing performed by people trained in assistive technology like JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver.
Accessible.org audits meet these requirements directly. Our reports are conducted by technical accessibility experts using screen reader testing, keyboard testing, code inspection, and other manual methods. The report is delivered in Excel spreadsheet format and documents every issue with its location, WCAG success criterion, description, applicable code, and recommended fix.
This level of detail gives your development team everything they need to fix each issue while creating the documented record the settlement requires.
How Do You Track and Fix Every Issue to WCAG 2.1 AA?
This is where most organizations struggle. You have a detailed audit report with possibly over a hundred issues, and you need to fix all of them within 18 months. Spreadsheets and email get disorganized fast.
The Accessibility Tracker platform was built for exactly this workflow. You upload your audit report in Excel format, and the platform extracts all issue data into a centralized dashboard. From there, you assign issues to team members and track progress in real time. Every issue carries a clear status: not started, in progress, completed, on hold, needs work, discarded, or validated.
The Tracker platform includes two built-in prioritization formulas. The risk factor formula scores issues based on which WCAG criteria appear most frequently in ADA litigation. The user impact formula uses a weighted scoring system to surface issues that most affect users with disabilities. Both help your team work on what matters most first.
Each issue in the dashboard includes five Tracker AI tools pre-loaded with your audit data. Simplify and Explain translates technical WCAG language into plain English. Detailed Technical Answer provides code examples. Alternative Approaches suggests different remediation methods. WCAG Standards explains the success criterion in depth. Custom Analysis allows follow-up questions. Developers get this help while viewing the issue, with the context of their specific problem already loaded. No copying data into ChatGPT or another outside service.
As your team completes fixes, your auditor validates them directly in the platform, marking each issue as validated or flagging it as needs work with feedback in the comment log. Your dashboard analytics and progress score update in real time.
What Needs to Be in the Accessibility Statement?
Settlement agreements require an accessibility statement with three components: a commitment to maintaining and improving accessibility, a way for visitors to submit feedback, and accessible contact information (a form, email, or both, plus a phone number). The statement must be linked from a visible location and accessible to screen reader users from the landing page.
Accessible.org can draft and implement your accessibility statement. The statement needs plain language, an accessible form or email, and a section under the heading “Accessibility Contact Information.”
How Do You Train Your Team on WCAG 2.1 AA?
The settlement requires employees responsible for website design and development be trained on WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
There are two approaches. The first is formal training, which Accessible.org can provide. The second is experiential learning through the remediation process itself.
When developers fix issues inside Accessibility Tracker with AI guidance, they learn WCAG standards in the context of their own code. After working through dozens of real issues, your team builds practical knowledge that sticks. They learn what screen readers expect, how keyboard navigation works, and why certain code patterns cause access issues.
We’ve seen teams go from zero accessibility experience to preventing issues proactively after working through their first project.
What About the Letter of Conformance?
The settlement requires a letter from your accessibility consultant confirming that the website substantially conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA within 18 months. This letter must be sent to the claimant’s counsel along with a copy of the completed audit.
Accessible.org issues conformance documentation as part of our validation process. Once all issues have been remediated and validated, we provide the required letter.
Because the Tracker platform logs every issue, status update, validation, and comment, there’s a complete record of what was fixed, when, and by whom. This also supports generating compliance documentation like VPATs and Accessibility Conformance Reports.
How Do These Requirements Fit Together?
The requirements form a logical sequence: retain a consultant, get an audit, fix the issues, train your team, post your statement, and deliver proof of conformance.
Accessible.org and Accessibility Tracker cover the full scope. Accessible.org provides consulting, auditing, remediation guidance, and conformance documentation. Accessibility Tracker provides the project management software, the dashboard, the AI tools, the scoring, and the compliance reporting that keeps everything on schedule. The platform also includes scheduled scanning and monitoring with dashboard alerts, supporting the ongoing maintenance the settlement requires after conformance is reached.
We’ve helped clients work through settlement agreements before. The process is predictable when you have the right foundation: a proper audit, a clear workflow, and the tools to track every issue to resolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can automated scans satisfy the audit requirement in a settlement agreement?
No. Settlement agreements require thorough manual evaluation by a qualified technical expert, including end-user testing with assistive technology. Scans only flag a small fraction of WCAG issues. The audit must be systematic, manual, and conducted by someone trained in screen reader and keyboard testing.
Ongoing automated scanning, however, is usually mandated as a part of the settlement.
Are overlay tools acceptable for meeting settlement requirements?
No. Settlement agreements often disqualify overlays / overlay widgets as they do not constitute manual remediation. Overlays should be removed as a best practice whether or not you’ve already been sued.
How long does it typically take to reach WCAG 2.1 AA conformance?
It depends on the number of issues and your website’s complexity. Most settlement agreements give 18 months. With a structured workflow inside Accessibility Tracker and a qualified consultant, many organizations complete their projects well within that timeframe.
What happens if you miss a settlement deadline?
Missing a deadline can put you in breach of the agreement, which may result in additional legal action or penalties. Using project management software like Accessibility Tracker to track progress and generate reports helps ensure you stay on schedule.
Do you need separate tools for the audit and the remediation tracking?
No. Accessible.org conducts the audit and delivers the report in a format that uploads directly to Accessibility Tracker. The platform then manages the full remediation workflow including issue assignment, status tracking, AI-guided fixes, validation, and progress reporting.
