What is Good Faith Effort in ADA Compliance? Why Documentation Matters

Good faith in ADA compliance refers to an organization's genuine, documented effort to achieve and maintain accessibility, regardless of whether perfect compliance has been reached. Courts recognize that WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance is complex, evolving, and sometimes technically challenging. What they will not accept is willful ignorance or inaction.

What Courts Look For:

• Evidence of accessibility assessments or audits
• Documentation of remediation planning and efforts
• Records of staff training on accessibility requirements
• Policies and procedures for maintaining compliance
• Budget allocations specifically for accessibility improvements
• Communication showing awareness of obligations

The Legal Standard:

Under Title II of the ADA (covering government entities) and DOJ enforcement guidelines, good faith effort can influence:

• Whether the DOJ pursues enforcement or offers technical assistance
• Settlement amounts in lawsuits and demand letter negotiations
• Judicial discretion in determining damages and penalties
• Whether plaintiff attorneys view you as an easy target
• The timeline granted for achieving full compliance

Good Faith vs. Perfect Compliance:

Here is the critical distinction most organizations miss: Good faith is not the same as perfect compliance. A government entity with a 75% accessibility score and extensive documentation of ongoing remediation efforts is in a stronger legal position than an entity with an 85% score but zero documentation of how they got there or what they plan to do next.

When ADA lawsuits reach court or settlement negotiations, both sides present evidence. Plaintiff attorneys come prepared with automated scan results showing violations, screenshots of inaccessible content, and expert testimony about barriers faced by people with disabilities. What does your organization bring?

Real Scenario: Two Similar Entities

Entity A (No Documentation): Receives lawsuit alleging website accessibility violations. Attorney asks what compliance efforts were made. IT director says they worked on accessibility. No records exist. Settlement negotiations begin at $125,000. Final settlement: $98,000 plus attorney fees and mandatory remediation.

Entity B (Documented Good Faith): Receives identical lawsuit. Attorney presents: compliance certificate from January scan, remediation tracking spreadsheet showing 47 issues fixed, staff training records, accessibility policy document, and quarterly audit reports. Settlement negotiations begin at $125,000. Final settlement: $42,000 with credit for demonstrated efforts.

What Courts Have Said:

Federal courts have consistently held that good faith efforts are relevant to ADA enforcement:

• The Ninth Circuit found that documented remediation efforts can mitigate damages
• DOJ settlement agreements regularly include credit for pre-lawsuit compliance work
• Judges have discretion to reduce penalties where good faith is demonstrated
• Plaintiff attorneys privately acknowledge that documented entities are harder targets

The Burden of Proof:

In ADA cases, the burden of proving good faith falls on the defendant. You cannot claim good faith without evidence. Verbal assurances, vague references to IT working on it, and promises of future compliance carry no legal weight. Courts want dated documents, signed policies, and verifiable records.

To demonstrate good faith effort in ADA compliance, your organization needs documentation in five key categories:

1. Assessment and Awareness

• Accessibility audit reports with dates and scope
• WCAG compliance scan results (even if scores are low)
• Third-party assessment reports if obtained
• Documentation showing leadership was informed of requirements
• Records of April 2026 deadline awareness and planning

2. Planning and Remediation

• Written remediation plan with priorities and timelines
• Issue tracking showing violations identified and fixed
• Developer tickets or work orders for accessibility fixes
• Before and after documentation of improvements made
• Progress reports showing movement toward compliance

3. Policy and Commitment

• Formal accessibility policy statement
• Staff responsibilities and accountability assignments
• Procurement policies requiring vendor accessibility
• Complaint procedures for accessibility issues
• Leadership sign-off on compliance commitment

4. Training and Capacity

• Staff training records on accessibility requirements
• Content creator training on accessible document creation
• Developer training on WCAG coding standards
• Ongoing education documentation

5. Monitoring and Maintenance

• Regular scan reports showing ongoing monitoring
• Compliance certificates from periodic assessments
• Records of issues discovered and remediated
• Documentation of third-party accessibility tools used

The Compliance Certificate:

A formal compliance certificate serves as dated, official documentation of your accessibility status at a specific point in time. Even if your score is not perfect, the certificate proves:

• You assessed your accessibility status
• You know what violations exist
• You have a baseline for measuring improvement
• You are engaged in the compliance process

The Government Compliance Action Kit includes a professional compliance certificate along with remediation guidance and tracking tools.

A compliance certificate is more than a scan report. It is a formal document that states your accessibility status, identifies your compliance level, lists known issues, and demonstrates your organization's engagement with ADA requirements. When presented in court or settlement negotiations, certificates carry weight that informal documentation lacks.

What a Compliance Certificate Includes:

• Organization name and website URL assessed
• Date of assessment (critical for establishing timeline)
• WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance status
• Current accessibility score with methodology
• Summary of issues identified by category
• Specific WCAG success criteria violations
• Prioritized remediation recommendations
• Certification that assessment was conducted

How Certificates Protect You:

Before a Lawsuit: Certificates deter plaintiff attorneys who review targets before filing. An entity with dated compliance certificates and ongoing documentation appears prepared to defend itself. Serial plaintiffs often move to easier targets.

During Settlement: Certificates provide concrete evidence of good faith that influences settlement amounts. Your attorney can point to specific dates showing when you began compliance efforts and what progress you have made.

In Court: If litigation proceeds, certificates become evidence in your defense. Judges view formal documentation more favorably than verbal claims or informal records.

The Good Faith Certificate:

A Good Faith Compliance Certificate goes further than a standard scan report by explicitly documenting:

• Your organization's commitment to accessibility
• Awareness of ADA and WCAG requirements
• Current compliance status with transparency
• Planned remediation activities
• Timeline for achieving full compliance
• Contact information for accessibility concerns

This comprehensive documentation demonstrates exactly what courts and the DOJ want to see: genuine engagement with accessibility as an ongoing obligation.

A common misconception is that good faith documentation only matters for organizations with poor accessibility scores. In reality, documentation is critical regardless of your compliance level.

If Your Score is Below 70%:

You need documentation urgently because:

• You are a high-priority target for plaintiff attorneys
• Your violations are likely easily discoverable
• Settlement demands will be highest without good faith evidence
• DOJ enforcement could include penalties without remediation credit

Documentation shows you are aware of issues and actively working toward compliance. Courts distinguish between organizations that neglected accessibility entirely versus those making genuine progress from a difficult starting point.

If Your Score is 70-85%:

Documentation protects you because:

• You have made progress worth demonstrating
• Remaining violations may trigger lawsuits despite overall improvement
• Evidence of ongoing effort affects settlement negotiations
• Timeline documentation shows commitment trajectory

If Your Score is 85%+:

Documentation still matters because:

• Perfect compliance is nearly impossible to maintain
• Content updates can introduce new violations
• Third-party integrations may cause accessibility issues
• Plaintiff attorneys can still file lawsuits over specific violations
• Good faith evidence protects against outlier issues

The Monitoring Argument:

Even entities with excellent accessibility scores benefit from documentation that shows ongoing monitoring. If a new violation appears and triggers a lawsuit, records proving you had continuous monitoring in place demonstrate that the violation was recent and you were positioned to catch and fix it.

Documentation Creates the Narrative:

In any legal proceeding, both sides tell a story. Without documentation, the plaintiff's narrative dominates: This organization ignored accessibility, failed to comply with federal law, and discriminated against people with disabilities.

With documentation, you control the narrative: This organization has been actively engaged in accessibility compliance, has made continuous improvements, maintains ongoing monitoring, and addresses issues as they are discovered.

This Week:

• Run an accessibility scan and save the dated results
• Create a simple remediation tracking document listing known issues
• Draft a one-page accessibility policy statement
• Document who in your organization is responsible for accessibility
• Save all records with clear dates

This Month:

• Obtain a formal compliance certificate
• Begin fixing highest-priority violations
• Update tracking document as issues are resolved
• Schedule accessibility training for content creators
• Document all completed training

Ongoing:

• Run quarterly accessibility scans and save reports
• Update compliance certificates periodically
• Maintain remediation tracking with dates
• Document any accessibility complaints received and responses
• Keep records of budget allocated to accessibility

What to Document for Every Fix:

• Date the issue was identified
• WCAG success criterion violated
• Date remediation was completed
• Who performed the fix
• Verification that fix was successful

The April 2026 Deadline:

With the federal compliance deadline approaching, documentation becomes even more critical. Entities that can show they began compliance efforts well before the deadline will receive more favorable treatment than those who waited until the last moment. Start building your good faith record today.

Mistake 1: Undated Documents Records without clear dates are nearly worthless in legal proceedings. Always include dates on every document, scan report, and policy.

Mistake 2: Verbal-Only Commitments Leadership saying accessibility matters is meaningless without written documentation. Get commitments in writing with signatures.

Mistake 3: One-Time Documentation A single scan from two years ago does not demonstrate good faith. Courts want to see ongoing engagement, not a forgotten project.

Mistake 4: Hiding Bad Results Deleting unfavorable scan results destroys evidence of your compliance timeline. Keep all results, even poor ones, as they show your starting point.

Mistake 5: Over-Reliance on Overlays Accessibility overlay widgets do not provide good faith documentation. Courts have rejected overlay-only approaches, and the FTC has fined overlay providers for deceptive claims.

Mistake 6: Waiting for Perfect Compliance Do not delay documentation until you achieve a perfect score. Document your current status and your efforts, whatever they are.

Mistake 7: Generic Policies Boilerplate accessibility statements copied from the internet do not demonstrate good faith. Customize policies to your organization with specific responsibilities and procedures.