Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Brea Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing 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 government will suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot legally be used for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the recipient lives. This program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

This government and it’s benefits 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 occur when a store violates any of the following rules.

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

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

The store submitted incorrect info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales during the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

The charging 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 no warning can come at any time. The charging letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send another letter which specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s 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. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can challenge 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 huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also 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 will also look in order to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

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