Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Miami Beach Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions which occurred at your retail store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. This program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

This government and it’s parameters 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 legal violations occur when a store violates any of the rules below.

The store took part inthe trafficking of 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.

The store submitted false information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 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, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will detail violations, 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, 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter that outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the appeal and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm 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 retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP 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 get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties 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 many situations, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you have only 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 if you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, 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 challenge the decision 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 purposefully chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 in order to check if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a allegation 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.