Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Oviedo Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have gotten a official warning from the USDA. This letter is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions which occurred at your store which the USDA is saying violates one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card are not for general usage, 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 by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP program 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 when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store took money for more EBT food stamps than actual food sales at the same time.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

The charging letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire Spodek Law Group, we 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the appeal to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t even know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer 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 see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a allegation 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.