Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bellflower Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The notification 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, and it will have transactions that occurred at your store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are given with an EBT card. The benefits on the card cannot legally be used for general usage, 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 which the SNAP participant lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The 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 counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm 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 appear at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, we handle 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 decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal 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 grocery 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 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, SNAP recipients 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 fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations are even occurring. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals 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. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. 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 does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to check if the grocery 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 grocery store owner that receives 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.