Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Arkansas Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a letter from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions which occurred at your grocery store that the government is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given through an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card are not for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The program and it’s parameters are under handled by the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen if and when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

The retail store took SNAP funds in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

The store submitted incorrect info on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales during the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, we handle all of the communicationswith the USDA and for compiling all the necessary evidence, and drafting a response to the USDA.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the appeal and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also 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 to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives a allegation letter speak to with a SNAP violation attorney. Choosing not to respond 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.