Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Conroe Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have received a official warning from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions that occurred at your retail store which the USDA claims is in violation of one or more categories 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 don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The benefits on the card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The program and it’s benefits are governed by the US 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 violations happen if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will mention serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal 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 grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase 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 you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know the violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. 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 penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The retailer also 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 typically also looks to check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets a 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.