Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Tigard Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have gotten a official notice from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which will contain transactions that happened at your store which the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should speak to our our law firm. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the USDA will terminate/suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

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

SNAP legal violations happen when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

Your store submitted incorrect info on your grocery stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The store took money for more coupons than actual food sales over the same period.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t eligible to use the benefits.

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

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

The charging letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to remove your right to take EBT benefits. This letter may come with no warning and can happen at any time. The violation letter will contain allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will issue a second letter that outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the retail store based on the alleged violations. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our lawyers, our team the legal papers to notify them appeal the decision. Our lawyers gather necessary evidence, and we will draft draft an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, evidence, etc. which is needed to fix the outcome.

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 be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our law firm can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most normal situations, many grocery store owners have no issues 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, people getting SNAP benefits cant buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If it’s believed you did 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 are even occurring. Often, unethical employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your grocery store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Your failure to respond to the allegations will permanently harm your store. In addition, 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. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the decision 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. The policy has to be in writing at the store and the policy must be when the violations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA will also look in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or were aware of the violation. If the managers were involved, it can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any store owner that receives a 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.