Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bakersfield Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a letter from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain records of transactions that occurred at your grocery store which 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 legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The Program

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

The federal and the benefits that come with it 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After 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 may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the appeal to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations are even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation 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 grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate 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 a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner must 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 retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store 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.