Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Reading Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will have transactions that occurred at your grocery store which the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

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

The program 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’s a SNAP Violation

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

The retail store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This letter may come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After you hire Spodek Law Group, our lawyers 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will issue another letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we’ll file the appeal and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll 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’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. 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 get electronic goods. As a retailer, if 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 violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. In many situations, unethical employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you only have 10 days to respond to the allegations. Your failure to respond to the allegations 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 lawyers will discredit the decision 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 chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

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

We highly recommend any store owner 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.