Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Cedar Hill Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The benefits on the card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took over for 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 federal and it’s benefits 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 legal violations happen when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, our team the legal papers to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal 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 lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. 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 result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

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