At least nine credit unions have been hit with class-action lawsuits over the accessibility of their websites, according to court documents, reports the Credit Union Times, which added that the complaints, “all of which were filed in District Courts in Virginia by the same two law firms on behalf of the same plaintiff, claimed the credit unions — ABNB Federal Credit Union, Arlington Community Federal Credit Union, Blue Eagle Credit Union, Cadmus Credit Union, Henrico Federal Credit Union, Member One Federal Credit Union, NRL Federal Credit Union, Pentagon Federal Credit Union and Virginia Credit Union — operated websites that were inaccessible to visually-impaired users.

“Among other things, the complaints alleged the credit unions failed to embed code that allows screen readers to vocalize descriptions of graphics on their websites. As a result, visually-impaired users could not determine what’s on the sites, browse the sites, look for locations, learn about amenities or determine which branch to visit, they said. The complaints claimed the credit unions’ sites contained links with no readable text, had redundant links that created repetition for screen readers and were missing form labels.

“The complaint against Arlington Community, for example, claimed that the credit union’s website contained access barriers that deterred visits to the credit unions’ physical locations.

“The credit unions failed to fix the accessibility barriers after being notified of the alleged discrimination, according to the plaintiff.”