Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sheboygan Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a letter of warning from the USDA. This letter is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is claiming you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, and it will have records of transactions which occurred at your grocery store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

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

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with funds to buy food each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The funds on the card are not 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 the card is issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The SNAP federal and it’s benefits are governed 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 violations occur when a retail store violates any of the following rules.

The grocery store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

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

Your employees accepted 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

Spodek Law Group has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most letters will lay out violations, with an attachment of details. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers handle 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 might still believe that a violation has occurred. If this happens, they’ll will 100% issue another letter that outlines their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to protest this decision. If you choose not to, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to change the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, 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 may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know the violations were even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your retail store, you only have 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm 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 can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does 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 when the allegations were filed.

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

We highly recommend any store owner that gets a violation letter consult 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.