Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Roy Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain records of transactions which happened at your retail store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

This program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is run 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’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations happen if and when a store is in violation of the following rules.

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

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

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

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during 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

Our law firm has immense experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 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. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the appeal to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal 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’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal 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 lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, 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 fight the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines 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 look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that gets 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.