Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Bristol Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then may have received a letter from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions which occurred at your retail store that the government is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The benefits on this card cannot legally be used for general use, 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 which the SNAP participant lives. The program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The SNAP 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur if and when a retail store violates any of the rules below.

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

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

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

Your store took money for more coupons than actual food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging 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 contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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 feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the legal papers to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override 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 federal court case, where you’ll be able to do 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, the 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 purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney 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. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer must 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 in order to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a allegation 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.