Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Cleveland Heights Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have received a letter from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions which happened at your store which the government claims is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot be used for general usage, 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 recipient lives. This program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP government and it’s parameters 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will mention violations, with an attachment of details. 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 this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If 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 court 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 food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, 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 might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know the violations are even happening. Often, unethical employees who 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 store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to 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 lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – 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 will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to see if the retail 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 owner that receives a 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.