Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Little Elm Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a letter from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have records of transactions that occurred at your retail store which the USDA is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

This federal 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’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations occur if and when a grocery store is in violation of the following rules.

The grocery store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm 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 taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we file the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, we will 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. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, 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, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations are even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes 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 must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The store owner 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 to check if the retail 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.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets a violation 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.