Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sioux City Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter of warning from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions that occurred at your store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with money each month. These benefits are distributed to consumers with an EBT card. The funds on this card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

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

Snap violations happen if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store was involved inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect information on the grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store took money for more EBT food stamps than food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Our law firm has experience handling SNAP violations letters. We can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, 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 violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue another letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we’ll file the appeal to notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and our team will 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 overturn the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase 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 grocery 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, 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, SNAP recipients cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know the violations were even occurring. Often, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though 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 can challenge the decision 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 curb violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer 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 to see if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any 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.