Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Port Orange Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a official warning from the USDA. The notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that happened at your store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for 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.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers handle 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery 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, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver 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 a fighting change. Our lawyers will fight 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 chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a letter speak to 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.