Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Johnson City Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions that occurred at your store which the government is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The federal and it’s benefits are governed 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 violations happen when a store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

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

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers handle 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 decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest the decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the legal papers to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program 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 buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties 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 will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner also be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that gets a violation 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.