I work in f&b management for a ski resort and I had a performance issues with an employee. I prefer not to involve HR and work out our issues between manager and employee because I'm more supportive of workers than upper management and most adults are capable of working things out between themselves once they understand each person is coming from. The employee decided that they wanted to file a complaint against me to HR, which I can only assume was an attempt to get me “in trouble”. During our meeting(which was not going the way he planned), the employee turned to the HR rep and said “It feels like you're on his(my) side and not the me as the employee.”.
I was shocked. No fucking shit that the company is backing their manager over an employee that works one day a week. Now, due to his dumb-fuckery, he lost his job(which are a dime a dozen around here) but more importantly to him, his ski pass. During our initial discussion about his performance, I offered to him if he didn't want to work, I could take him off of the schedule, but still have him as “on call” so he could keep his pass.
Don't trust HR if you're an employee! HR is not on your side! HR has the company's interests in mind and not the employee's!