Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Rancho Cucamonga Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that occurred at your store that the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP program 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’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting 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.

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

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

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 process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will outline violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. 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.

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 a second letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the appeal and notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

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

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond 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. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 check if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.