Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Arvada Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your grocery store that the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are given via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. This program is run on a national level by the government.

This government 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 if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the violation letter, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the decision. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will 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 grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know SNAP 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 appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to 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 a fighting change. Our lawyers will fight the findings 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 imposes 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 and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the above mentioned 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 from the violations, 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 gets a allegation letter speak to 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.