Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Shelton Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, which will contain records of transactions that occurred at your retail store which the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers through an EBT card. The funds on this card aren’t for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

This federal 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 was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales at the same time.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience handling SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most letters will lay out 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, 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the necessary paperwork and notify the USDA appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the legal 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 have to do standard processes like 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’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. As a retailer, if you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious 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, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, the USDA will make a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will fight the decision of the USDA and appeal any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully does 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 has to be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The grocery store also be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, 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 receives a violation 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.