Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Riverton Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have transactions which occurred at your retail store which the USDA claims violates one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you must speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your stores privilege to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card are not for general usage, 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 where the recipient lives. This program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The government 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

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

The grocery store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will mention serious allegations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process 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 are many laws you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP 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 probably get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a major SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to speak with a SNAP violation attorney to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the allegations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to 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 the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge 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 imposes huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the grocery store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store that gets a violation 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.