Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Berkeley Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a notice from the USDA. The letter is most likely 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, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your store that the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on this card aren’t for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. 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 run on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more coupons than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning can come at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, 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. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy 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 severe fines. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge 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 when the violations were filed.

The store owner also 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 check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that receives a 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.