Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Fresno 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 notice is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions which happened at your grocery store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not 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 are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is 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.

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

The store took money for more coupons than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will outline serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire our law firm, we take into their hands 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the appeal to notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like 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’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings 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 chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner also has to 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 in order to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store 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.