Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Buena Park Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. The notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your store which the government claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. This program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This program 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we take into their hands 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 believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal federal court 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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, SNAP recipients 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 and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t know SNAP violations are even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney 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 ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will challenge the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 typically also looks 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.

It’s highly recommended any grocery store owner that receives 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.