HR can be a blessing to some employees; there have been one occasion at my previous job where an employee was given an increase simply because HR found they had

HR can be a blessing to some employees; there have been one occasion at my previous job where an employee was given an increase simply because HR found they had dropped below the 10th percentile in their salary band. In another situation HR has forced an increase because of a personal rating even though the budget for increases in the department didn't have funding for it (effectively HR forced a budget increase due to the rating of the employee). Both of these times i've found them to be a welcome and helpful surprise. That said, it is very true if you're filing a discrimination complaint or otherwise putting the company at risk you're implicitly putting yourself and the person you're accusing into the looking glass, and that could bite you in the butt if HR decides the manager isn't at fault.