Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Casper Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter of warning from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions which occurred at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should 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 terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The benefits on the card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is operated on a national level by the government.

The SNAP program and it’s parameters are governed by the US 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 happen if and when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change 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 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 have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even though 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. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully 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 at the store and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store 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 check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that gets a violation 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.