Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Alabama 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 official notice from the USDA. The letter 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 letter, which will contain transactions that happened at your store that the government is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

The federal and it’s benefits are under handled by the United States 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 legal violations occur when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

The retail store took SNAP benefits in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

Your store submitted false information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP 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, we 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 might still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief 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 overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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 are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no issues 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, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know the violations are even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring 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 penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully 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 has to be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer must has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that gets a violation 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.