Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Frederick Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general usage, 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 by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a national level by the federal government.

The government and it’s benefits are under handled by the United States 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 retail store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

The grocery store took SNAP funds 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.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales over the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 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. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will detail serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we take into their hands 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like 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’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail 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, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, 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 will challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, 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 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.