Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

New Britain Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have received a letter of warning from the USDA. The letter is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions which occurred at your store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given via an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The government and it’s parameters 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than 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.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

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

The charging letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, 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 may still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to protest the decision. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we file the legal papers and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process 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 are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, 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 buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even though you choose not to 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 can challenge the decision 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 huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The retailer also 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 to see if the retail store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner 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.