Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Montclair Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a letter of warning from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions that happened at your retail store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP federal and the benefits that come with it 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 violations occur when a store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we handle 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that specifically states the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the retail 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’ll file the legal papers to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to 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 lawyers can fight the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing and in effect when the violations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look in order to see if the grocery store 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 grocery store owner that gets a violation 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.