Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Hawthorne Snap Violation Lawyers

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

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact 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 privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are given with an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for 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 SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

This government and it’s parameters 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 legal violations occur when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

The charging letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will detail serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After 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.

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 issue another letter which specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do 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 are many laws 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 limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate 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 can discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large 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 and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any grocery store owner that gets a 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.