Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bellevue Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a notice from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

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

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The benefits on this card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. This program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP program and it’s benefits are governed by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations occur if and when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store accepted 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 appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, we 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter that specifically states the agencies 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. After you hire our firm, our team the appeal to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to change 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 court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, the 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 purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal 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 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 in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store 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 typically also looks to check if the 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.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a violation letter consult 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.