Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

West Haven Snap Violation Lawyers

If you’re a retailer who accepts EBT at your grocery store, then may have gotten a letter from the USDA. This notification is most likely a SNAP violation letter, which is alleging you are in violation of the SNAP program. The government will attach a number of pages to the SNAP violation notice, which will have records of transactions that happened at your grocery store that the USDA claims is in violation of one or more groups of violations.

After you get a SNAP violation letter, you must contact our legal team. It’s critical you understand, you only have 10 days to respond. If you don’t respond, the government will suspend your grocery store’s ability to accept EBT payments.

About The SNAP Program

This program helps families with funds to buy food each month. These benefits are distributed through an EBT card. The SNAP benefits on the card cannot be used for general use, and they cannot be used for cash back transactions. The cards took the place of food stamps in the 1990’s and are issued in the state which the SNAP participant lives. This program is run on a national level by the government.

The SNAP government 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 happen when a store is in violation of the rules below.

The store was involved intrafficking SNAP benefits. Examples of this is fraudulently accepting taking the benefits, or theft of the benefits.

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

The store submitted incorrect information on your retail stores application to accept EBT benefits.

The grocery store redeemed more EBT food stamps than sale of actual food at the same time.

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

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

Sending the letter is the first step which is going to be taken by USDA to take away your right to take EBT benefits. The letter can come with no warning and can appear at any time. The violation letter has a variety of allegations, but most letters will lay out serious allegations, have evidence attached proving the violations. You have only 10 days to respond. Once you hire Spodek Law Group, we handle 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 SNAP violation letter, the USDA may still decide that your store has violated the rules. If this happens, they’ll will issue another letter that specifically states their decision to suspend or disqualify the grocery store based on the allegations set forth. You have 10 days to appeal this. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the USDA decision. Once you hire our lawyers, we file the legal papers to notify them we are going to appeal their decision. We’ll collect necessary evidence, and we will draft generate an appellate brief containing all of the case law, legal evidence, etc. which is necessary to change the outcome of the violations.

In the event the USDA refuses to override the legal decision, in the Administrative Review, we’ll file a Judicial review at the local Federal District Court. The Judicial Appeal is like a normal case, where you’ll have to do standard processes like discovery, file motions, and have a trial. Our lawyers can handle these cases in all 50 states.

SNAP Violations

As a grocery store retailer, there are many laws you have to adhere to for 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, SNAP recipients cant get electronic goods. If, and when, you violate the laws, you’ll probably get a SNAP violation letter. Snap violation penalties can result in fines, and penalties. If you conduct a major violation, then you might end up with either a permanent or temporary disqualification. In most cases, store owners didn’t even know the violations are even occurring. 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 lawyer in order to ensure sure you don’t have your benefits revoked.

When a SNAP violation letter is sent to your store, you only have ten days to respond to the claims by the USDA. 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 don’t respond to the allegations. Without legal experience, you won’t be able to retain EBT benefits. Retaining a SNAP violation lawyer gives you a fighting change. Our SNAP appeals lawyers can fight the decision 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 huge 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 in effect at the time the allegations were filed.

The retailer must has to 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 from the violations, 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 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.