Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sayreville Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a letter of warning from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that 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 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 stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This federal and the benefits that come with it 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

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

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

Your store submitted incorrect info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more coupons than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees have taken 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 team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. 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 violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter which specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. 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 lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process 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’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties 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 were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be 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 to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended 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.