Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bridgeport Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions which occurred at your retail store which the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. 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. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

This program and the benefits that come with it are under handled 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 violations happen when a retail store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm 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 retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to 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 will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge 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 and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any grocery store owner that receives a violation 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.