Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Utah Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then it’s possible have been the recipient of a a notice from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is stating you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will include proof to the SNAP violation letter, and it will contain transactions that occurred at your grocery store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories 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 choose to ignore, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The benefits on the card cannot legally be used for general usage, and they cannot be used for fraudulent cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued by each state individually where the recipient lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the federal government.

The federal and the benefits that come with it 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 legal violations happen when a retail store is in violation of the following rules.

The store took part intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or stealing the benefits.

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

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

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

The employees of the store have taken SNAP benefits from someone who shouldn’t be allowed to use the benefits.

How to defend your store against a SNAP violation

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violation letters. Our law firm can handle your SNAP Violation appeal in all 3 phases of a SNAP Violation action.

Sending the 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 can come at any time. The SNAP violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most of them will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire our law firm, 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.

After reviewing the store’s answer to the notice of violation, the USDA might still feel that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, the USDA will definitely send a second letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. Like before, you have ten days to appeal this verdict. If you choose not to, you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. Once you hire our law firm, our team the legal papers and notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will draft an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, legal evidence, etc. which is critical to overturn the decision.

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. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal federal court case, where you’ll be able to do discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our attorneys 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, USDA’s SNAP program 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 buy electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you should expect getting a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in severe fines. If you conduct a serious violation, then you may end up with a temporary or permanent disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t even know SNAP violations were even occurring. In many situations, it’s dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. It’s helpful to discuss your case with a SNAP violation lawyer to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is delivered to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Your failure to respond to the violations will permanently harm your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will generate a verdict even if you choose not to respond to the allegations. In the absence of a SNAP violation attorney, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Hiring a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can challenge the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The fines imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA will typically look to see if you have a compliance policy in place. It must be in writing and the policy must be when the allegations were filed.

The grocery store must 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 in order to see if the retail store owners benefited from the violations, or if the owners were aware of the fraud. Any involvement of the management can lead to disqualification.

We highly recommend any grocery store owner that receives a allegation 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.