Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Sioux Falls Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is claiming you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain records of transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the USDA is saying is in violation of one or more genres of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation notice, 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 USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

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

The SNAP government 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 violations occur when a retail store is in violation of the rules below.

The grocery store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

Your store submitted false information on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than actual food sales during the same period.

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

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

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

Sending the violation 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 will have allegations in it, but most letters will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we take into their hands 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 your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will issue another letter which specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the necessary paperwork to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll gather necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to change the outcome of the violations.

If the USDA refuses to override the decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. This process is like a normal 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 food store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many grocery store owners don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. 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 it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know SNAP violations are even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is presented to your store, you have only 10 days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to 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 fight the decision 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 purposefully does huge fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. The policy must be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The retailer must be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that gets 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.