Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Castle Rock Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions which happened at your grocery store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

The SNAP program and it’s parameters are under handled 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 grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The grocery 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 benefits in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

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

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove 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 of them will lay out serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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 that happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do 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 are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. 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 get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – 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 at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also 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 owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that receives a letter speak to 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.