Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Boise Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA claims 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 choose to ignore, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot be used 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 by each state individually where the consumer lives. This program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

This government and the benefits that come with it are governed by the United States 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 store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

The store submitted false info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees accepted 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 violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen 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. After you hire our law firm, 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 may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send another letter that specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the legal papers to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase 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 fines. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know the violations were even occurring. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. 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 look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing and in effect when the violations 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 will also look to check if the retail store 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 store that gets a allegation letter consult 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.