Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Surprise Snap Violation Lawyers

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

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your grocery store’s ability to take EBT.

About The Program

The SNAP program provides families with a certain amount of money each month. The SNAP program benefits are distributed via an EBT card. The benefits on the card aren’t for general usage, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back transactions. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued by each state individually which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The federal and it’s benefits are under handled 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 when a store violates any of the following rules.

The retail store took part inthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales over 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

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

The charging letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The charging letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will detail violations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire our law firm, we 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 may still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which specifically states the governments decision to suspend or disqualify the store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our law firm, our team the appeal to notify the government appeal the decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to overturn the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. This next phase 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 grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, SNAP 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 get electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can result in severe and business crushing penalties. If it’s believed you did a serious SNAP violation, then you might end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to consult with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the allegations 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. 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 lawyers will discredit the decision of the USDA and fight any penalties. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and the policy must be at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer must be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store that receives a allegation 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.