Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Upland Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your retail store, then you might have gotten a notice from the USDA. This notification is probably a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain records of transactions which happened at your retail store that the USDA claims violates one or more genres of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation notice, you should definitely speak to our our legal team. Remember, you have only ten days to respond to the letter. If you choose to ignore, the government will terminate/suspend your stores privilege to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program provides families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card aren’t for general use, and they can’t be used for fraudulent cash back services. The EBT cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the government.

The program and it’s benefits 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 does it mean to have a SNAP violation

SNAP legal violations occur if and when a store is in violation of the following rules.

The store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect info on your store’s application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store redeemed more coupons than food sales over the same period.

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from an unauthorized person who isn’t allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Our law firm has experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys can handle your SNAP violation process in all 3 phases of a SNAP violation action.

The charging letter is the initial step taken by the USDA to remove your EBT license. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The SNAP violation letter contain details about alleged violations, but most of them will detail serious allegations, and have attached documents detailing 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.

Once the USDA reviews your answer to the SNAP violation letter, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, the USDA will 100% issue another letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have 10 days to appeal this verdict. If you don’t, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we’ll file the necessary paperwork and notify the government we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate the necessary appeals briefs containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

In the event the USDA refuses to change the violation claim, in the Administrative Review, we’ll 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. We can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there’s a lot of rules and regulations you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners have no issues adhering to them. However, SNAP 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 fines, and penalties. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In most cases, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations are even occurring. Often, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to consult with a SNAP violation appeals lawyer in order to make sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your retail store, you have only 10 days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond to the allegations will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even though you don’t 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 will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose chooses to impose large 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 and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The store owner must has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and was not drafted after the violation letter. The USDA will also look in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or if the business owners were aware of the fraud. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any store 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.