Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Reno Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have received a official warning from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the government claims violates one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely 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 grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The funds on the card aren’t for general use, and they can’t be used for cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The federal and the benefits that come with it 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur when a grocery store is in violation of the rules below.

The store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food during the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most letters will detail violations, 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 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest the verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the legal papers and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to overturn the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers 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 have no problems adhering to them. However, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to speak with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your grocery store, you only have 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers can challenge the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing at the store and in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any owner that receives a allegation letter consult 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.