Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Coachella Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have gotten a letter of warning from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions which happened at your retail store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

This 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 violations occur when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store accepted 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 experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. 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 USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

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 next phase is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers 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 normal situations, many grocery store owners have no issues 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, SNAP recipients cant purchase 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 and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest 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 charge letter is delivered to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can challenge the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes large 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 has to be in writing and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a allegation 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.