Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Burlington Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your retail 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 grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on this card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This federal and it’s parameters 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 legal violations occur if and when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

The employees of the store accepted 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 managing SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, we handle 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, 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 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 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 get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might 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. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP 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 charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit 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 purposefully chooses to impose 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 at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The retailer also 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 will also look to see if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

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