Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Las Cruces Snap Violation Lawyers

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

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our legal team. 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.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given with an EBT card. The funds on this card are not 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 are issued in the state where the recipient lives. This program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This government and it’s parameters 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales over the same period.

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 violations letters. Our team of attorneys 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 take away your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers take into their hands 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 your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue another letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the appeal and notify the USDA 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 needed to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District 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 food store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know the violations are even occurring. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t 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 discredit the decision of the USDA and fight 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 in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner 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 typically also looks in order to see if the retail 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 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.