Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Chelsea Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a 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 notice, which will contain records of transactions which happened at your store that the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given via an EBT card. The benefits on this card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

This government 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 counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

The retail store accepted SNAP benefits 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.

Your grocery store took money for more coupons than 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

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers 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 may still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal and notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs 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 binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 normal situations, many retail 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 purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations were even occurring. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney 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. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can fight 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 purposefully chooses to impose 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 at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a 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.