Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Eden Prairie Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have received a notice from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions which happened at your retail store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The benefits on the card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

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

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales over the same period.

Your employees accepted 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 immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the violation letter, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers to notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to overturn 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 federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail 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, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining 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 fight any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – 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. The policy must be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the above mentioned 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 in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

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