Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Stanton Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions which happened at your store which the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot legally be used 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 the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP federal and the benefits that come with it 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 happen if and when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

The employees of the store accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will outline serious allegations, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter which specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers to notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase 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’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery 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. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only ten 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 make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look 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 management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a 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.