Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Edmond Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions which occurred at your grocery store which the government is saying 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 government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

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

This government and the benefits that come with it 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 counts as a SNAP violation

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

The grocery store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal 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 right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will detail violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the legal papers and notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical 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 SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver 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 a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that gets a letter speak to 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.