Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Waco Snap Violation Lawyers

If you accept EBT at your grocery store, then you might have been the recipient of a a official warning from the USDA. This notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you have violated the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation letter, which 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 notice, you should definitely speak to our our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you choose to ignore, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT.

About The SNAP Program

The SNAP program helps families with get food each month. These benefits are distributed with an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on this 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 are issued in the state where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is run on a nationwide level by the federal government.

The government and it’s benefits are governed by the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The USDA FNS agency enforces the regulations and runs the program.

What’s a SNAP Violation

Snap violations happen if and when a store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store is accused ofthe trafficking of SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

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

Your grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than food sales at the same time.

Your employees accepted SNAP benefits from someone who isn’t allowed to use them.

How we can help defend you against a SNAP violation notice

Spodek Law Group has immense experience managing SNAP violation letters. We can handle your SNAP violation process in all phases of a SNAP action.

Sending the violation letter is the first step taken by the USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with, or without, prior warnings and can happen at any time. The violation letter will have allegations in it, but most of them will mention violations, have evidence attached proving 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 100% issue another letter which outlines the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the store based on the accusations previously mentioned. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you choose not to, then you’ll be unable to protest the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, we file the appeal and notify the USDA we are going to appeal their decision. Our lawyers collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief which contains all of the case law, 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 will 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 are many laws 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 limits on how the funds can be used. For example, SNAP recipients cant purchase electronic goods. If you violate the laws, you’ll get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners didn’t even know the violations were even happening. Often, it’s dishonest employees are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case with a SNAP violation attorney in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a charge letter is sent to your store, you have only ten days to respond to the violations. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will make a verdict even though you choose not to respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you the ability to fight for your rights. Our lawyers will discredit the findings of the USDA and fight any penalties. The penalties imposed can be huge – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA on purpose does huge fines to curb violations. The USDA will look to see if you have a store compliance policy in place. It has to be in writing and the policy must be at the time the violations were filed.

The retailer must has to be able to prove the compliance policy was in existence before the allegations, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks to check 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 gets a violation 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.