Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Marlborough Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions which occurred at your retail store which the USDA claims violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The Program

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

This federal and it’s parameters are under handled by the United States 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 oftrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

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

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, 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 might still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue a second letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the legal 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 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 which you have to adhere to for 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 limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t know SNAP violations are even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make 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 will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The retailer must be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to see if the owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that receives a allegation letter speak to 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.