Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Dallas Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have received a official warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions that happened at your retail store which the USDA claims is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

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

The federal and it’s benefits are governed by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What’s a SNAP Violation

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

The store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will lay out violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, our lawyers handle 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 violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

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

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP 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 buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets 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.