Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Edinburg Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions that happened at your retail store which the USDA claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege 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 cannot legally be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will mention 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 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 violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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 retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, the 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 fines. If you conduct a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest 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 sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes 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 must be in writing and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The retailer must 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 will also look to check if the grocery 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 gets a letter speak to 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.