Hazel joined Stephens Scown in 2015. Hazel is the Head of the HRExpress team providing clients with advice on a wide variety of HR and employment matters including in relation to restructure/redundancy, holiday pay, working pay issues, performance management and disciplinary procedures. She reviews and drafts employment contracts and handbooks both for HRExpress clients and as standalone instructions.
Hazel is also part of the wider Employment team acting for employers and employees. Hazel believes that having these dual sides to her role is beneficial to clients, as she has an insight into the tactics and thought processes of both sides.
As part of her work within the wider Employment team Hazel supports corporate transactional matters, and supports clients pre litigation to resolve matters at an early stage either post termination or through negotiated exits and settlement agreements.
When advising clients Hazel focuses on giving support as well as legal advice, helping them understand the process and their options so we can achieve the outcome they desire.
Hazel is experienced in advising businesses across many sectors with a particular focus on charity and healthcare clients.
Hazel studied law at the University of Plymouth and qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in September 2014.
Recent work includes:
- Advising a client on historic underpayments of holiday, calculating payments due, advising on how to resolve any complaints arising from the underpayments and ensure compliance with the laws surrounding holiday pay in the future
- Advising a client on a complex restructure including consideration of selection pools which enabled the client to simplify their process and retain key employees
- Drafting tailored post termination restrictive covenants and retention bonuses for key employees in a large international company, with a view both to protecting the risk of damage to the business by their departure and also encouraging employees’ loyalty
- Supporting an employee to keep their job when they felt their proposed redundancy/settlement agreement was unfair
- Supporting the corporate team on employment related matters in connection with the sale of care homes
- Supporting healthcare clients with sponsored employees to put in place up to date contracts of employment which protect their business and meet legal requirements.
- Supporting healthcare clients to comply with Home Office requirements to notify sponsored employees about employment rights.
- Supporting clients to update contracts and handbooks in compliance with changes brought in under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
- Delivering sexual harassment training.
- Advising clients on contract requirements when employees reside in accommodation under a service occupancy agreement and impacts of accommodation costs and the accommodation offset on the National Living Wage.
- Advising a client on the prospects of success and the wider considerations they should consider when assessing the value of their claim, which helped them reach a settlement.
- Advising a client on a complex service provision change to assess whether TUPE applied.
Outside of work she enjoys swimming, going to body-pump classes and getting out for a walk at the weekend.
