Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Laguna Niguel Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a official warning from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that occurred at your store which the USDA claims is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing 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 government will suspend your stores ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. This program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This 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’s a SNAP Violation

SNAP legal violations occur when a store violates any of the following rules.

The retail store is accused oftrafficking 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.

Your store submitted incorrect info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more coupons than actual food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has immense experience managing SNAP appeals letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process 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. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the appeal and notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We 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 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also has to 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 in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store 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.