Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Davie Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a notice from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions that occurred at your retail store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program helps families with money each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of 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 federal 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false information on your grocery 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 shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, our lawyers 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 believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue another letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the appeal and notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll 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. Our law firm 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 don’t run into problems. 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver 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 can fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – 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. It must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets 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.