Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Highland 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 letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions which occurred at your retail store which the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with money each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The funds on this card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is run on a national level by the government.

This government and the benefits that come with it are governed by the United States 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 legal violations occur when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of 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 the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales during the same period.

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 immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will issue another letter that specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal 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 grocery store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, the 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 get electronic goods. If 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 most cases, store owners don’t even know the violations are even occurring. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge 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 purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

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