'Our manager said we shouldn't be talking about our wages': Employee goes to HR after fiery argument with manager over discussing pay

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Dec 29, 2023 8:00 AM EST

Never go to HR to resolve a dispute between you and your manager; unless there are special circumstances, HR will likely side against you. The reasoning behind this is simple: HR is not there to be an objective mediator. They are there to protect the company at all costs. If that means sacrificing a few low-level employees at the company, then that's exactly what they will do. Of course, there are exceptions, and occasionally HR will fire managers but not because of their inappropriate behavior. If a manager gets fired, the reasoning is likely that their inappropriate behavior puts the company at risk. Pure and simple. You may consider this a cynical take or you may consider it the realistic one. Either way, HR's response to this email from an employee certainly says it all.

This thread was posted to Reddit by u/iicecream_, who opened up about a hostile exchange they had with their manager and their subsequent one with their HR representative. As with many employee-manager disputes, the main topic of conversation was pay. In this case, it was about discussing pay among coworkers and violating labor rights. Keep scrolling below for the full email exchange and some feedback from folks in the comments. For more, check out this top story about an employee's petty revenge on a thieving nepo-baby.