Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Hayward Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the government claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. 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 operated on a national level by the government.

This government 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect 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.

The employees of the store 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

Our law firm has immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers handle 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we’ll file the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm 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 normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably 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 may 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 who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult 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 only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner also 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 to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

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