Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Fort Lauderdale Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a letter from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions that happened at your retail store that the government claims is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The funds 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 the card is issued in the state where the recipient lives. The program is operated on a national level by the government.

The program and it’s parameters are governed by the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations occur if and when a retail store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false information on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will mention violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still believe that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue another letter that specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the appeal and notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy 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 major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know the violations are even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations 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 will also look in order to check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives a allegation 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.