Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Fond du Lac Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions which occurred at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP program and it’s parameters are governed by the US 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 happen if and when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

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

The store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation 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. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal 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 food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, 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 purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes huge 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 and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 typically also looks to see 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.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that gets a violation 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.