Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Huntington Park Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a letter of warning from the USDA. The letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions which occurred at your retail store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot legally be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The federal 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 counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales over the same period.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will mention violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that specifically states their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which 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 limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The retailer must 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 typically also looks to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that gets a 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.