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Whole Foods Website Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A customer filed a class action lawsuit against Whole Foods.
- Why: The plaintiff alleges that Whole Foods fails to operate and provide a website that is accessible to all users, including those who are blind and visually impaired.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New York federal court.
A would-be Whole Foods customer is suing the health foods company for allegedly failing to maintain a website that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), thus denying equal access for blind and visually impaired people.
Elbert Dawkins, the lead plaintiff, says he visited wholefoodsmarket.com on several occasions but was “effectively barred” since the website lacked accommodations for blind and visually impared people who use screen-reading software.
Inadequate website access can affect the 8.1 million people in the United States who are visually impaired, including 2 million who are blind, the complaint says, citing the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report.
Whole Foods Fails Blind, Visually Impaired Population, Class Action Alleges
The Whole Foods website fails to offer accessibility in several ways, according to the complaint:
- Absence of alternative text, which is invisible text embedded beneath a graphical image. This prevents users from differentiating between photos and knowing what’s on the page.
- Interactive elements on the website that are not keyboard focusable, which prevented Dawkins from finding a store location.
- Lack of labels or titles on many features, which prevents a blind or visually impaired user from knowing what to insert into a subject field.
- Same titles on multiple pages, which prevents users from differentiating one page from another.
- Several broken links, which can get users stuck and lost within a website once a broken link is encountered.
Under the ADA, Dawkins seeks a permanent injunction requiring Whole Foods to retain a qualified and approved consultant to assist the company in making its website compliant with World Wide Web Consortium guidelines.
Dawkins seeks to represent a nationwide class and a New York state subclass that includes all legally blind individuals in the United States and New York who have attempted to access the Whole Foods website and have been denied equal access during the relevant statutory period.
Have you had issues accessing Whole Foods’ or another store’s website? Share your experience in the comments below.
The plaintiff is represented by Mark Rozenberg of Stein Saks, PLLC.
The Whole Foods Website Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit is Dawkins v. Whole Foods Market Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-02472, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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