Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Mentor Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a letter from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of 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 notice, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The benefits on this card are not for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is run on a national level by the federal government.

The government 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more coupons than sale of actual food over the same period.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire our law firm, we 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter which specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the legal papers to notify the government appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food 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, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t even know the violations are even happening. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t 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 SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the decision of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and in effect when the violations were filed.

The retailer must has to 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 in order to see if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

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