Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Huntsville Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions that happened at your grocery store which the government is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The funds on this card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t 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. This program is run on a national level by the government.

The SNAP program and the benefits that come with it are governed by the US 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 retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP appeals letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning can come at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will mention serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal 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’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees 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 retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can challenge the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – 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 has to be in writing at the store and in effect when 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 will also look in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that gets a allegation 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.