Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Cincinnati Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions which occurred at your store which the government is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, 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 privilege to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The benefits on the card aren’t for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent 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.

This government and it’s benefits 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 happen if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

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

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

The charging letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging 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 our law firm, 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, 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 purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if 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 SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring 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 the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets a allegation 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.