IE8 is ignoring accesskeys on links/input boxes and instead brings up browser menus

I am working on a fairly complex intranet site, which is using a lot of jQuery. We decided to add "accesskey" short cuts to certain elements (only to link elements and text input fields).

The problem I am experiencing only happens in IE8 (or ChromeFrame with IE8). Chrome appears to work fine.

We are using accesskeys that are used by IE8 natively (eg开发者_如何学运维: ALT-C is already assigned to bring up Favorites in IE8 but we are using the accesskey="C"

eg)

<a class="client" accesskey="c">Client</a>

All link events are typically added post-render using jQuery:

    $("a.client").click(function(){ ... });

For some reason, Internet Explorer 8 (which I have read is supposed to give priority to the page when it comes to using the accesskeys, is totally ignoring that rule, and stealing the event.

Thoughts?