Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Lima Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a official notice from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have transactions which happened at your grocery store which the government claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this card cannot be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

This program and the benefits that come with it 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 legal violations occur when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales over the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

The charging letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will outline serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send a second letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal 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 which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and in effect when the violations were filed.

The retailer must has to be able to prove the above mentioned 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.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a 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.