Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Oxnard 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 warning from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have transactions that occurred at your grocery store which the government is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on the card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent 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 program is run on a national level by the federal government.

This program and it’s parameters are under handled by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What counts as a SNAP violation

Snap violations occur when a store violates any of the rules below.

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more coupons than food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Our law firm has immense experience managing SNAP appeals 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 going to be taken by 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 SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue a second letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers 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. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is delivered to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently crush 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 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 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 purposefully does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. The policy must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store owner that receives a allegation 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.