Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Lansing Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions that happened at your retail store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

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

This federal 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur if and when a grocery store violates any of the following rules.

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

Your retail store accepted SNAP funds 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 grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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 feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the decision. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

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 District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get 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 violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know the violations are even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight 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 on purpose does large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a letter speak to 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.