Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Haverhill Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions which occurred at your retail store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

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

The SNAP 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 counts as a SNAP violation

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

The grocery store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

Your grocery store accepted 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.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales during the same period.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the appeal to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal 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 grocery 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 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations are even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you only have 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 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer must has to 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 grocery store 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.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a 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.