Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Chula Vista Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that occurred at your retail store that the government 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 choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

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

This government and the benefits that come with it 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

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

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers to notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal federal 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations 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 limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know the violations were even happening. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the decision 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 on purpose does large fines to curb 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 when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that receives a violation letter consult 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.