Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Pleasanton Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a notice from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that happened at your retail store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on the card are not for general use, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. This program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The program and the benefits that come with it 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the 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 your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more coupons than food sales at the same time.

Your employees took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will mention violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter that outlines their legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest this decision. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect 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.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal court case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners have no problems 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 buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe fines. If you conduct a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores don’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you have only ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond 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 a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can discredit 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 imposes large 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 and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The grocery store 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 to check if the 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.

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