Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Springfield Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a notice from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your grocery store that the USDA is saying violates one or more groups 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 choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. 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 nationwide level by the government.

The program 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

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

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

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

The store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store accepted 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 experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will outline serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the necessary paperwork to notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal 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 food store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to curb 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 the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that gets a violation letter speak to 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.