Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Mount Vernon Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then may have received a official notice from the USDA. The letter is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions which occurred at your store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, 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 government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers via an EBT card. The funds on the card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. This program is operated on a national level by the government.

The SNAP federal and it’s benefits are governed 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 if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

Your retail store accepted SNAP benefits in exchange for nonfood items like alcohol, tobacco, or other goods.

Your store submitted false info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees 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 experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will detail violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers handle 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which outlines the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team 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 legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal 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 attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even happening. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond will permanently harm your store. In addition, 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 won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can 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 on purpose imposes large fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations 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 will also look to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that gets a 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.