Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Murrieta Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have transactions which happened at your retail store which the USDA is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should speak to our our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on this card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t be used for cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

This federal and it’s parameters 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’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking 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 store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food during the same period.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will mention 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 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 violation letter, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will issue another letter which specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest the decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we file the legal papers and notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If 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 violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations are even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store 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.

We highly recommend any 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.