Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Montgomery Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have received a official warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which happened at your grocery store which the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

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 don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

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

The program and it’s benefits 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 happen if and when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store took part intrafficking 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.

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

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

Your employees 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

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

Sending the letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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 violation letter, the USDA may still feel that a violation has occurred. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, our team the appeal to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn 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 court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept 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 get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can be huge – 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. It has to be in writing and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to check if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any grocery store owner that receives 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.