Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

El Cajon Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have received a letter from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions which happened at your retail store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP program and it’s benefits are governed by the United States 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 happen when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false information on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will outline serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we handle 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send 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 verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the legal papers and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do 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 have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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 get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer also has to 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 to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a allegation 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.