Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Crystal Lake Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our legal team. 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 accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the 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 incorrect info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like 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 retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate 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 can challenge the decision 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 on purpose does large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, 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 receives a violation 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.