Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Oshkosh Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have transactions that occurred at your retail store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must 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 suspend your stores ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given through an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

This 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 happen if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

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

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

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

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter which specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify them appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations 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 limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know the violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure 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. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you don’t 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 decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives 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.