Columbia Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your grocery store which the USDA claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, 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 stores privilege to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are given with an EBT card. The benefits on the card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP government 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 counts as a SNAP violation

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

The retail store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted false information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales at the same time.

The employees of the store 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 immense experience managing SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will outline serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the appeal to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like 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 have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know the violations are even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will challenge the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer must be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a violation 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.