Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bellingham Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The SNAP 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 the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is operated on a national level by the government.

The program and it’s benefits 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales over 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

Our law firm has immense experience managing 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 going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the legal papers and notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal 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’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, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to in order to curb future 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 when the allegations were filed.

The retailer 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 will also look to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a 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.