Harrisburg Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a official warning from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions which occurred at your grocery store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The benefits on this card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This federal and the benefits that come with it are governed 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 violations happen when a grocery store violates any of the following rules.

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

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

Your store submitted false info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store accepted SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After 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 may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding 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 have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct 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 occurring. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you don’t 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 SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can be huge – 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 look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to see if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a violation letter speak to 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.