Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Texas Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your retail store, then may have been the recipient of a a letter from the USDA. This 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 have records of transactions that happened at your 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 letter, you should definitely contact our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

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

This government and the benefits that come with it 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a grocery store violates any of the rules below.

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

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

Your store submitted incorrect info on the retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more coupons than sale of actual food at the same time.

Your employees accepted 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 violations letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the initial step which is taken by the USDA USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The SNAP violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will outline violations, with an attachment of details. Your response to the SNAP violation letter is due within 10 days. After 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 violation letter, the USDA might still feel that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter which specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the 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 lawyers, our team the appeal and notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft draft the necessary appeals briefs which contains all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers 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, USDA’s SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits 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 fines, and penalties. If you conduct a serious 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, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation attorney to make 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 allegations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though 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 lawyers will fight the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose large fines to curb violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and in effect at the time the violations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA typically also looks to see if the grocery store owners benefited in any way from the fraud, 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 violation 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.