Raleigh Snap Violation Lawyers

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

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must 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

This program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on the EBT card are not for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took the place of 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 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a store violates any of the following rules.

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

Your retail store accepted SNAP benefits 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 store took money for more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

The employees of the store took 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 violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them 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 believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter that specifically states the agencies legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to appeal the decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, we file the necessary paperwork and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations are even happening. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond 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. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the decision of the USDA and appeal any decision. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. The policy has to be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

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

It’s highly recommended any 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.