Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Baton Rouge Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official warning from the USDA. The notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions which occurred at your store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP federal and the benefits that come with it are governed by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

Your grocery store took SNAP benefits in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

Your store submitted false info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers take into their hands all of the communicationswith the USDA and for compiling all the necessary evidence, and drafting a response to the USDA.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send another letter which outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a letter consult with a SNAP violation attorney. Failure can result in negative consequences. The USDA is required by Congress to issue a disqualification for a period of up to 5 years. This can result in huge losses which are hard to recover from.