Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Salem Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a notice from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions that happened at your store that the government is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

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 choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot legally be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the recipient lives. The program is run on a national level by the federal government.

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

Snap violations occur when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

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

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

Your store submitted false information on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store 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

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter which outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we file the legal papers to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, 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 limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a serious violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to make 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 allegations. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though 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 a fighting change. Our lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that receives a allegation letter speak to 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.