How a Government Agency Achieved Section 508 Compliance for Email Signatures
The Metro County Department of Public Services needed all 1,200 employee email signatures to meet Section 508 accessibility standards. Siggly delivered fully accessible signatures with proper alt text, semantic structure, and color contrast — passing a federal accessibility audit on the first attempt.
Key Capabilities Used
Section 508 Compliance
All signature HTML meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards with proper semantic structure, alt text, and ARIA attributes.
Color Contrast Validation
Template colors are validated against WCAG contrast ratios, ensuring readability for visually impaired recipients.
Screen Reader Optimization
Signatures are structured so screen readers announce content in a logical order with meaningful descriptions.
Plain Text Fallback
Every HTML signature has a matching plain text version for recipients who cannot render HTML email.
The Challenge
The Metro County Department of Public Services is a county government agency with 1,200 employees across 15 divisions, including parks, public works, social services, and emergency management. As a government entity, all digital communications must comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which mandates that electronic content be accessible to people with disabilities.
An accessibility audit by an external consultant found that 92% of employee email signatures failed Section 508 compliance. Common issues included logo images without alt text, insufficient color contrast between text and background, signatures that were entirely image-based (invisible to screen readers), and HTML structures that caused screen readers to announce content in a confusing order.
Deputy CIO Landon Briggs was given a 6-month deadline to achieve full compliance, with the expectation that a follow-up audit would verify the results. The department had tried distributing accessible signature templates via PDF instructions, but compliance remained below 15% after three months of effort.
The Solution
Accessibility Assessment
Siggly's team conducted an accessibility audit of the existing signatures and designed compliant templates that met WCAG 2.1 AA standards, with input from the county's ADA coordinator.
Semantic HTML Templates
Templates were built with proper heading hierarchy, alt text for all images, sufficient color contrast (minimum 4.5:1 ratio), and a logical reading order for screen readers.
Active Directory Deployment
All 1,200 employee profiles were imported from the county's Active Directory. Signatures were deployed server-side through Exchange Online, requiring no action from employees.
Plain Text Companion
Every HTML signature was paired with a matching plain text version, ensuring accessibility even for recipients using text-only email clients or assistive technology that cannot render HTML.
The Results
Full Section 508 Compliance
All 1,200 employee signatures passed Section 508 compliance checks, with a 100% accessibility score on the follow-up audit.
First-Time Audit Pass
The external auditor confirmed full compliance on the first re-audit — a result the Deputy CIO described as "unprecedented for a county agency."
Compliance in 4 Weeks
The entire deployment was completed in 4 weeks — well ahead of the 6-month deadline — freeing the IT team to address other accessibility initiatives.
Positive Public Feedback
Citizens with visual impairments provided positive feedback through the county's ADA office, noting that government emails were now fully readable with their screen readers.
"We failed the Section 508 audit badly — 92% of our signatures were non-compliant. Six weeks later, after deploying Siggly, we passed the re-audit with a perfect score. Our ADA coordinator said it was the fastest compliance win she'd seen in county government."
Landon Briggs
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Metro County Department of Public Services