Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Manteca Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have received a letter from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your grocery 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 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 Program

This program provides families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given through an EBT card. The funds on the card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The federal and it’s benefits 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 following rules.

The store was involved 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 incorrect information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store took money for more coupons than food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violations 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 which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the appeal and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal court 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 food store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail 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 limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the allegations 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. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers can fight the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look to see if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that gets a letter consult 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.