Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Longview Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a notice from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions which happened at your retail store which the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is run on a national level by the government.

The 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’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations happen 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 the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

The employees of the store 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 handling SNAP appeals letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

The charging letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will detail serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will definitely send another letter that outlines the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no problems adhering to them. 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 purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can fight the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner must 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 to see if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a letter speak to 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.