Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Pocatello Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The notification is probably 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, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card cannot be used 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 are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP federal and it’s parameters are under handled 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 when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The grocery store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

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

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The charging letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers 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 might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the appeal and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 retail 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 get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get 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 might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even though 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 can discredit the findings 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 purposefully does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the above mentioned 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 management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store 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.