Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Hallandale Beach Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The benefits on the card cannot be used 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 the card is issued in the state where the recipient lives. This program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

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

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

Your store submitted false information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the necessary paperwork to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal federal court 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 which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know the violations were even occurring. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully 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 retailer must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a letter consult with a SNAP violation attorney. Choosing not to respond 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.