Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Dothan Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions that occurred at your retail store that the USDA is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The benefits on this card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is run on a national level by the government.

The federal and it’s benefits 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store took 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 experience managing SNAP violations 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 which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding 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 food store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP 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. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know the violations are even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – 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 look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner 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 check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a violation letter consult 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.