Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Houston Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions which happened at your store that the government claims violates one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our law firm. 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

The SNAP program provides families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on this 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 the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The program and it’s parameters 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 legal violations occur when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter that specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal federal court 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 food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no problems 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. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond 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 won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight 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 huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store also 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 owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

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