Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Kennewick Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have gotten a official warning from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The benefits on this card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more coupons than food sales at the same time.

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will detail violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the appeal and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

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

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for 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 fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP 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. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will fight the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer 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 will also look in order to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that gets a allegation letter consult 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.