Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Dearborn Heights Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a notice from the USDA. The notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions which occurred at your store which the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

The store submitted false info on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales during the same period.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will detail violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire our law firm, 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 your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the legal papers and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 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 get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose 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 and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a allegation 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.