Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Ceres Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official notice from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions which occurred at your store that the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our 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 ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

This federal 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 when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation 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 and can appear at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will detail 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, 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 have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting 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 most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations are even occurring. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure 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 violations. Your failure to respond 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 won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.