Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Rohnert Park Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a letter from the USDA. This notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will have transactions which occurred at your grocery store which the government is saying violates one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, you should 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 suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the EBT card aren’t for general use, and they cannot 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. This program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The government and it’s parameters 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’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more coupons than food sales during the same period.

The employees of the store took SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the letter is the first step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will lay out serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire our law firm, our lawyers 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue a second letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have ten days to protest this verdict. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the legal papers to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is needed to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This next phase is like a normal 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 you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you’ll 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 may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. In addition, 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 a fighting change. Our lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large fines to in order to curb future 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 violations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the compliance 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 business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that gets a 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.