Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Camden Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions that occurred at your grocery store which the government claims violates one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The 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.

This 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

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

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

The store submitted false info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the notice of violation, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will 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 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 cases, many grocery 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 you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations are even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t 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 can discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives 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.