Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

O’Fallon Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a notice from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the government.

The program and it’s parameters 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 legal violations happen when a store violates any of the following rules.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning can come at any time. The charging letter will contain 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 Spodek Law Group, our lawyers handle 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 may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter that outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will 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 lawyers 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 normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase 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 major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any 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.