Business owners deserve a fair chance to correct potential ADA violations before a lawsuit can be filed, says the Wisconsin Restaurant Association (WRA).

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law that took effect in 1991, requires restaurants and other places open to the public to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. Twenty-five lawsuits alleging ADA violations by small businesses, including several restaurants, were recently filed in the Fox Valley area.

"Our members strongly support accommodating individuals with disabilities, both as customers and employees," says Ed Lump, WRA President. "However, we believe litigation should always be the last step in the process."

Fox Valley area business owners were not notified of problems prior to being named in the lawsuits, despite other existing avenues to lodge complaints.

"It would be far more productive to start by approaching businesses through appropriate regulatory agencies," says Lump, "or even to raise the issue directly with the owner."

Instead of working toward the goal of greater access, lawsuits divert resources away from solving accessibility issues. This is especially true in the case of small businesses with limited means. Lawsuits not only threaten these operations economically, but they take valuable time, attention and money away from accessibility.

"This is a good law," says Lump. "But ADA is nonetheless confusing. It 's not written in a way that makes it practical for the typical small business owner to easily understand or follow."

When ADA compliance issues arise, they should never be oversimplified as business owners disregarding the needs of disabled patrons or being unwilling to follow federal guidelines.

A commonsense look at ADA reveals guidelines that are notoriously complex and regulations that are not systematically enforced by any government agency. Even for the most committed small business owner, perfect compliance would be extremely difficult.

Restaurant operators are used to complying with a variety of complex regulations. Take the Wisconsin Food Code, for instance, which governs everything from exact heating and holding temperatures to precisely how long fresh ingredients can be stored.

Unlike the Food Code however, the ADA rules are not a straightforward list of specific regulations. From the standpoint of a small business owner in particular, the ADA rules can be ambiguous. For example, the law is written expressly to distinguish between existing versus new or renovated space; as well as between small versus large businesses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration "ADA Guide for Small Businesses," published in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice, which has responsibility for enforcement, reads as follows:

"If you own or operate a business that serves the public, you must remove physical 'barriers' that are 'readily achievable,' which means easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense. The 'readily achievable ' requirement is based on the size and resources of the business. So larger businesses with more resources are expected to take a more active role in removing barriers than small businesses."

In addition, ADA is not systematically reinforced by regulators. Small business owners who made good faith changes at the time the law was passed in 1991 may not have had cause to revisit the guidelines in detail in recent years. Unless a specific complaint is brought to the attention of the business owner, operators receive no feedback. It is not unreasonable for business owners who made changes in response to the initial passage of the ADA to assume they are still in compliance.

All of these factors point to the need for prior notice of an alleged violation. However, ADA does not legally require this. The National Restaurant Association is strongly supporting efforts to pass the "ADA Notification Act," which ensures that restaurants and other places of public accommodation are first notified about an alleged ADA violation and then given 90 days to correct the alleged violation before a lawsuit may be filed.

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Since 1933, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, a nonprofit group, has been dedicated to the promotion, protection and improvement of the foodservice industry.