Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

City Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions which occurred at your retail store that the USDA claims violates one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The benefits on this card aren’t for general use, 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 in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The federal and the benefits that come with it are under handled by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

The grocery store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers take into their hands 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. 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, our team the necessary paperwork to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t know the violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining 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 fight any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store 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.