Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Pico Rivera Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a official warning from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the government is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. This program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This government and the benefits that come with it are governed by the US 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 if and when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales over the same period.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning can come at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing 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.

Once the USDA reviews your 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 that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the 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 lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal federal 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’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 purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives 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.