Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Vacaville Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a notice from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions that occurred at your store that the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

The SNAP program and it’s benefits 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 when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more coupons than food sales over the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, we take into their hands 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 feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter that outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 normal situations, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP 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 get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and 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, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though 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 SNAP appeals lawyers can discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.