Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Hilton Head Island Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions which happened at your store which the government is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The program and it’s benefits 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking 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 information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm 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 remove your EBT license. This comes with no warning can come at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal federal court 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, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy 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 might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. 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 a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose 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 the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also be able to prove the compliance 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 owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives a 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.