Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Allentown Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This federal and it’s parameters are under handled by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen if and when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

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

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

The store submitted false information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales during the same period.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter which specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal and notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery 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, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you only have 10 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 deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The retailer also 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 check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a allegation 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.