Charlotte City Website Accessibility Law Guide

Civil Rights and Equity North Carolina 3 Minutes Read · published February 06, 2026 Flag of North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina requires public services to be accessible to people with disabilities. This guide explains how municipal website accessibility is addressed at the city level, who enforces compliance, the typical remedies for noncompliance, and practical steps for departments, vendors, and residents to report or resolve issues.

Start by documenting the page or feature that does not meet accessibility expectations.

Overview of Requirements

The city expects public-facing digital services to be usable by people with disabilities under applicable law and city policy. Technical standards and timelines may be set by city policy, contract terms, or by reference to federal accessibility standards; where the city text does not list a specific numeric standard, that detail is not specified on the cited municipal page.

Penalties & Enforcement

Enforcement is typically handled through the city Civil Rights & Equity office, code enforcement channels, or the City Attorney for injunctive or judicial remedies. Specific monetary penalties for website accessibility violations are not specified on the cited municipal pages, and may depend on whether a failure arises from procurement, a contractor agreement, or a statutory violation.

  • Enforcer: Civil Rights & Equity department for discrimination complaints; City Attorney for legal enforcement and court actions.
  • Non-monetary sanctions: corrective orders, injunctive relief, removal or suspension of noncompliant content, contract remedies against vendors.
  • Monetary fines: not specified on the cited municipal pages; municipal code or contract terms determine fines where applicable.
  • Escalation: first and repeat offence procedures are governed by the enforcing office or contract terms and are not specified on a single consolidated city page.
  • Inspections and complaints: the Civil Rights & Equity office accepts complaints and can coordinate investigations; contractors may be subject to contractual audits.
Most enforcement begins with a formal complaint to the Civil Rights & Equity office.

Applications & Forms

The city publishes complaint and accommodation forms through its Civil Rights & Equity office or department pages; if no specific web-accessibility form is available, the general discrimination/ADA complaint process applies. Specific form names, numbers, deadlines, or fees are not specified on a single cited municipal page.

Common Violations and Typical Responses

  • Missing alternative text for images — remedy: add alt attributes and retest.
  • Keyboard inaccessibility for interactive controls — remedy: update markup and scripts to support keyboard navigation.
  • Poor color contrast or unreadable forms — remedy: adjust styles and labels to meet contrast and labeling best practices.
  • Uncaptioned video or inaccessible documents — remedy: provide captions, transcripts, and accessible document formats.
Preserve evidence of the issue and communications when you file a complaint.

How to Comply and Practical Action Steps

  • Inventory public content and prioritize high-traffic pages for remediation.
  • Adopt clear technical standards in procurement (for example, reference to a WCAG level where specified by policy or contract).
  • Document fixes and testing results; retain records to demonstrate good-faith compliance efforts.
  • Report issues and request reasonable accommodations through the Civil Rights & Equity complaint process.

FAQ

Who enforces website accessibility for city services?
The Civil Rights & Equity office handles discrimination and accessibility complaints; the City Attorney enforces remedies through legal channels when necessary.
What standard must city websites meet?
The city refers to applicable federal and local requirements; if a specific technical standard is required by policy or contract it will be listed there, otherwise that detail is not specified on a single cited municipal page.
How do I report a website accessibility problem?
File a complaint with the Civil Rights & Equity office, include page URLs, screenshots, device/browser used, and contact info for follow-up.

How-To

  1. Record the issue: capture the URL, steps to reproduce, screenshots, and the date/time of the observation.
  2. Check internal resources: confirm whether the page is covered by an active contract or recent update that should include accessibility provisions.
  3. Submit a formal complaint or request to the Civil Rights & Equity office with the documentation you collected.
  4. Follow up with the responsible department or vendor and retain correspondence and remediation evidence.

Key Takeaways

  • Start with documentation and the city complaint process to create an enforceable record.
  • Procurement and contracts are primary tools to require vendor compliance.
  • Keep records of testing and fixes to show good-faith efforts.

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