Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

La Puente Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have gotten a letter from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain transactions which occurred at your store that the USDA claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on the card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a national level by the government.

This federal 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 violations occur if and when a store violates any of the following rules.

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

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

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

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

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send another letter that specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest the decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal 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 are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even if 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a allegation letter speak to 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.