Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Louisville/Jefferson County Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions which happened at your retail store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The Program

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

This government 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 happen if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

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

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food over the same period.

The employees of the store accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 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. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will mention violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties 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. It has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

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