Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

San Jose Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have records of transactions that occurred at your grocery store which the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

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 choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are given through an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The government and it’s benefits are governed by the United States 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 when a store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will outline violations, and have attached documents detailing 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue another letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the legal papers to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

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

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. 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 in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that gets a violation 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.