Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Midland Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card cannot be used for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. This program is operated on a nationwide 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 violations occur if and when a retail store violates any of the rules below.

The store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers handle 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, our team the appeal to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP 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 buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes large fines to curb 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 in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a 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.