Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Aurora Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain transactions that happened at your grocery store which the USDA is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given via an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP federal and it’s parameters are governed 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 violations happen when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll 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 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 which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery 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, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. 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 cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to 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 check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets a 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.