Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sherman Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then it’s possible have gotten a letter of warning from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions that happened at your grocery store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card aren’t for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The SNAP government 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 happen if and when a store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

The store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has immense experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will outline 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, they’ll will issue a second letter which specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have 10 days to protest this verdict. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, we’ll file the legal papers to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is needed to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This process is like a normal federal 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 are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems adhering to them. However, the SNAP program 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 buy electronic goods. 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 major SNAP violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, owners of grocery stores didn’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is presented to your grocery store, you only have ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you cannot defend your store. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does large fines to curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the violations were filed.

The store owner must 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 typically also looks in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a letter consult 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.