Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bremerton Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions that happened at your grocery store which the government is saying is in violation of 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. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. This program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The government and it’s parameters 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

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

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

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

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales at the same time.

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will detail violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers take into their hands 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a allegation letter speak to 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.