Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Kansas City Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a letter from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that happened at your retail store which the USDA is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The benefits on this card are not for general usage, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The program 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 legal violations occur when a store violates any of the rules below.

The store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the 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 info on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales during the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, 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. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the necessary paperwork to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do 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 cases, many grocery 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 purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring 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 appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes huge 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 retailer also be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.