Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Passaic Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have transactions that occurred at your retail store that the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with money each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. This program is operated on a national level by the government.

This program and the benefits that come with it 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’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a store is in violation of the following rules.

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

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

Your store submitted incorrect info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP appeals 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 going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will issue a second letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the appeal and notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override 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 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, 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations are even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though 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 a fighting change. Our lawyers can challenge the decision 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 does 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 at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

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

We highly recommend any owner that gets a allegation 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.