Concord Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, 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 transactions which happened at your grocery store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general usage, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP federal and it’s parameters are under handled by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

The grocery store took SNAP benefits in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

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

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has 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 first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will lay out serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA may still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the appeal and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District 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. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food 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 don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits 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 include fines and 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 don’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to 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 SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

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