Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Torrance Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a official warning from the USDA. The notification is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is stating you have violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation notice, and it will contain transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the USDA is saying violates one or more categories of violations.

The first thing after you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT.

About The Program

This program provides families with get food each month. The SNAP program benefits are given with an EBT card. The benefits on the EBT card cannot 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 are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. The SNAP program is operated on a nationwide level by the government.

The program 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

Snap violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The retail store is accused oftrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of 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 store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food during the same period.

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

Defending against a SNAP Violation Letter

Spodek Law Group has experience managing 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 initial step taken by the USDA to take away your EBT license. This comes with no warning and can happen at any time. The charging letter will contain allegations, but most of them will detail violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, our lawyers take into their hands 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 notice of violation, the USDA may still believe that your store has violated the rules. If that happens, the USDA will definitely send another letter which outlines the agencies decision to suspend or disqualify the 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. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the legal papers to notify the USDA appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to overturn the decision.

If the USDA refuses to change the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, our lawyers will file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal 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 food store retailer, there are many laws have to obey in order to accept EBT. In most normal situations, many retail store owners have no problems 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 should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Penalties of violating SNAP can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you may end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, owners of grocery stores didn’t even know the violations are even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP EBT program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the claims. Your failure to respond to the allegations 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. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully chooses to impose 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 also be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look to check 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.

It’s highly recommended any store that receives a letter speak to 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.