Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

South Bend Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a official warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing 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 don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

This government and it’s parameters are governed 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 is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

Your grocery store accepted SNAP funds in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

Your store submitted incorrect info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, 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. After you hire our law firm, 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will issue another letter which specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District 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 law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s 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 buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get 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 might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will fight the decision 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 curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer 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 in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any grocery 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.