Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Hoover Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a notice from the USDA. The notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions that occurred at your grocery store which the government claims is in violation of 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 choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot legally be used 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. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP government and the benefits that come with it are under handled by the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations occur when a retail store violates any of the rules below.

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

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

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

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

Sending the letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning can come at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the decision, 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 have to do standard processes like 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 grocery 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, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.