Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Irving Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have received a official notice from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that happened at your grocery store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot be used 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 recipient lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP government 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

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

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second 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 choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process 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 don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s 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 buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. 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 curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that receives a letter speak to with a SNAP violation attorney. Failure can result 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.