Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

West Covina Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have received a letter of warning from the USDA. The notice is most likely a SNAP violation notice, which is alleging you violated the SNAP program. The USDA will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions which occurred at your grocery store that the government is saying is in violation of one or more categories of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you should definitely contact our law firm. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the USDA will suspend your stores ability to take EBT.

About The SNAP Program

This program provides families with get food each month. These benefits are given via an EBT card. The benefits on the card aren’t for general usage, and they cannot be used for cash back services. The cards took over for food stamps in the 1990’s and the card is issued in the state where the consumer lives. The SNAP program is operated on a national level by the government.

The SNAP federal and the benefits that come with it 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 violations occur when a store violates any of the rules below.

The retail store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. This can mean fraudulently accepting the 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 false info on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

Your grocery store took money for more coupons than actual 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 immense experience managing SNAP violations letters. Our team of attorneys 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 right to take EBT benefits. This comes with, or without, prior warnings and can appear at any time. The charging letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will outline violations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. After you hire our law firm, we 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 notice of violation, the USDA might still decide that a violation has occurred. If that happens, they’ll will issue another letter that specifically states the governments legal verdict to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. Like before, you have ten days to protest the decision. If you don’t, then you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. After you hire our firm, our team the appeal and notify them appeal the decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and our team will generate an appellate brief containing all of the legal laws, evidence, etc. which is critical to fix the outcome.

If the USDA refuses to override the binding decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal 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 attorneys can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a food store retailer, there are many laws which you have to adhere to for EBT. In most cases, many retail store owners don’t run into problems. However, the SNAP program can be tricky. SNAP handles the Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and has limitations. For example, people getting SNAP benefits cant purchase electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can include fines and penalties. If it’s believed you did a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In many situations, store owners don’t know the violations were even happening. In many situations, dishonest employees who are misusing the SNAP program. If you’re accused of a SNAP violation to discuss your case 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 ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. Failure to respond will permanently crush your store. If you don’t respond the USDA will deliver a verdict even if 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 SNAP appeals lawyers will challenge the findings of the USDA and appeal any decision. The financial penalties imposed can expensive – to the tune of ten’s of thousands of dollars. The USDA purposefully imposes large fines to in order to curb future violations. The USDA look to see if you have a store compliance policy. It must be in writing at the store and in effect when the allegations were filed.

The store owner also has to be able to prove the above mentioned policy was in place before the charge, and wasn’t drafted after the violation was made. The USDA typically also looks in order to check if the owners benefited in any way from the fraud, or were aware of the violation. If the management was involved it can lead to disqualification.

It’s highly recommended any owner that receives 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.