Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Ocala Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain records of transactions that occurred at your retail store which the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, 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 stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are given with an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card cannot legally be used for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The program is run on a national level by the government.

This 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

The retail store took SNAP funds 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.

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than actual food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will issue another letter that specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, we file the legal papers to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal 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 are many laws have to obey in order to accept 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 get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know the violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you don’t respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner must be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to see if the owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that gets a violation letter speak to with a SNAP violation attorney. Choosing not to respond 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.