Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Chattanooga Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions which occurred at your grocery store that the government claims violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

The SNAP government and it’s parameters 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 counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales at the same time.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this decision. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, 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 have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 will also look in order to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a 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.