Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Provo Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions which occurred at your 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. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

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

This program and the benefits that come with it are governed 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 occur if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys 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 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 letters will mention serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal 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 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, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the violations 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 will also look in order 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 gets 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.