Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sierra Vista Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is run on a national level by the government.

The program and it’s benefits 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

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

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales during the same period.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will detail violations, with an attachment of details. 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the appeal to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal court case, where you’ll be able to do 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 are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, 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 limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations are even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties 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. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that gets a violation letter consult 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.