Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Lakewood Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions that happened at your retail store which the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on the card aren’t for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. 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 national level by the government.

The federal and it’s benefits are under handled 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 grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

The grocery store took SNAP funds 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.

The store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline 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, 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 violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal 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 are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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 purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even if you choose not to 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 findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge 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 at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

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

We highly recommend any owner that receives a allegation letter consult 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.