Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Monroe Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have gotten a official warning from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions which happened at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. 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 take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given through an EBT card. The benefits on this card aren’t 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 where the consumer lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The retail store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

Your retail store took SNAP benefits 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.

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

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

Sending the letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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 violation letter, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter which outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, our team the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft 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 overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If 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 serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. 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 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 generate a verdict even though 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 a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store also has to 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 grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a letter speak to 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.