Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Saginaw Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have received a official notice from the USDA. The notice is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will have records of transactions which occurred at your store which the government claims is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you must contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores ability to accept EBT.

About The Program

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

The SNAP program and it’s parameters 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 counts as a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations happen when a grocery store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted false info on the store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

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

Your employees have taken 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. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings can come at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail violations, 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, 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 decide that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, we file the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to overturn 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 have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys 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 cases, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, SNAP 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. If you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores don’t know the violations are even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who 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 charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond will permanently crush your store. In addition, the USDA will deliver 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. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does huge fines to in order to curb future 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 when the violations were filed.

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

It’s highly recommended any store owner that gets 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.