Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Columbus Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, 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 speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took the place of 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 government.

The SNAP 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’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a store violates any of the following rules.

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

Your grocery store accepted SNAP funds 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 store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will outline 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 might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the appeal and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys 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 retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney to make 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. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will fight the decision 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 on purpose does 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 has to be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look 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.

It’s highly recommended any grocery store owner that receives a 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.