Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Anchorage Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a notice from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, 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 terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are given with an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP 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 occur if and when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your grocery 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.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers take into their hands 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter which specifically states their legal verdict 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 unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we file the appeal to notify them appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can 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 huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the retail store 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.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives a allegation 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.