Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Delaware Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a letter of warning from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions which occurred at your grocery store which the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The funds on the 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 recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The federal 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 occur when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

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

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations 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 won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to check 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.

We highly recommend any owner that gets a 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.