Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Utica Snap Violation Lawyers

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

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 don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is operated on a national level by the government.

The government 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’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations occur 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 the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales at the same time.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, 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 violation letter, the USDA might still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal 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’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest 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 presented to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will challenge the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully 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 and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store 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 owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a 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.