Victoria’s Secret class action claims website not fully accessible to blind, visually impaired users

Victoria’s Secret website class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Vivian Salazar filed a class action lawsuit against Victoria’s Secret & Co. 
• Why: Salazar claims Victoria’s Secret failed to make its website fully and equally accessible to and independently usable by individuals who are blind or visually impaired, in an alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court. 

Victoria’s Secret & Co. failed to design its website in a way that would make it fully and equally accessible to and independently usable by individuals who are blind or visually impaired, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Vivian Salazar, who is legally blind, claims Victoria’s Secret’s website contains access barriers to screen-reading software used by individuals who are blind or visually impaired to use the internet. 

Salazar argues Victoria’s Secret is denying individuals who are blind or visually impaired with the full and equal access to its website and the products and services offered on it, in an alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

“The access barriers Plaintiff has encountered on Defendant’s website have caused a denial of Plaintiff’s full and equal access multiple times in the past and now deter Plaintiff on a regular basis from accessing Defendant’s website,” the Victoria’s Secret class action states. 

Salazar wants to represent a nationwide class of legally blind individuals who have attempted to access Victoria Secret’s website using screen-reading software since January 2022 and a class from California who attempted to access the website from January 2022 through July 31, 2023. 

Victoria’s Secret site contains ‘numerous’ barriers to screen-reading software, class action says

Victoria’s Secret’s website has “numerous” access barriers to screen-reading software, such as, among other things, improperly coded form elements and “Select Store” buttons on the checkout page that are not coded to work with screen readers, the Victoria’s Secret class action alleges. 

“The Class Members and Plaintiff were barred from accessing goods and services because of Defendant’s failure to code its website to be usable by screen readers and they all encountered similar barriers,” the Victoria’s Secret class action states. 

In addition to allegedly violating the ADA, Salazar claims Victoria’s Secret violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. She is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of statutory damages for herself and all class members. 

A separate class action lawsuit was filed against Victoria’s Secret in April 2021 over claims the company underpaid its employees and required them to work off the clock during pre-shift daily temperature testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The judge overseeing the case filed a stay in March to allow similar complaints to be resolved and granted a request by Victoria’s Secret to take judicial notice of the other proceedings.  

Have you been denied equal access to goods and services offered on Victoria’s Secret’s website? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Thiago M. Coelho of the Wilshire Law Firm. 

The Victoria’s Secret website class action lawsuit is Salazar, et al. v. Victoria’s Secret & Co., et al., Case No. 4:21-cv-06770, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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