Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Kissimmee Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions which occurred at your store which the government is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

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

This program and it’s parameters 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 happen when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

Your retail store accepted 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 redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will mention violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 may still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we file the appeal to notify them appeal the 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 critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal court 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives a allegation 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.