Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Lexington-Fayette Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter of warning from the USDA. The notification 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 that occurred at your retail store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The Program

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

The SNAP federal and it’s benefits are governed 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 grocery store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has immense experience managing 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 taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue another letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the legal papers and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm 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, 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, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations were even occurring. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even if 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to curb 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 grocery store must has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that gets 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.