A Stamford bank must upgrade its telecommunications hardware and customer service to satisfy federal requirements that it adequately serve customers who are deaf or hard of hearing, federal prosecutors say.
Connecticut U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced Wednesday her office settled with Patriot National Bank over alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The matter stemmed from a Patriot customer’s complaint, investigators said, that the bank allegedly refused to do business with her over the phone using a telecommunications relay service.
Daly said the bank has since cooperated with authorities to amend its policies and procedures to meet ADA requirements. Patriot has 10 offices, primarily in Fairfield County.
Other settlement conditions include:
- Providing appropriate auxiliary aids and services to persons with disabilities when necessary to ensure effective communication throughout its financial services and programs.
- Adopting and enforcing a policy on effective communication with individuals who are deaf, are hard of hearing or have speech disabilities, for all retail stores and financial services.
- Posting a summary of the policy in retail locations and distributing the policy to current and new employees and contractors.
- Accepting calls made through a relay service operator by customers who are deaf, are hard of hearing or have speech disabilities on an equivalent basis to calls from other customers. This includes eliminating special security provisions applied to relay calls and using the same caller verification procedures whether or not a customer uses a relay service.
- Ensuring that its ATMs and websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities.
- Providing staff training on the ADA and Patriot Bank’s obligations to provide effective communication to individuals with disabilities.
- Posting and maintaining in a conspicuous location in all banking stores a notice stating that individuals with disabilities have a right under the ADA to request a sign language or oral interpreter or other auxiliary aids or services.
