[andrewaylett]

Even if the people working in HR genuinely want to do the right thing for the employees, and company policies support them doing that, interactions with HR are inherently adversarial.

The people within HR may be friendly, they've probably got friends :). It can be a very people-oriented role. But they are incapable of being your friend when you're interacting with them in their role as representative for the company.

I greatly appreciate my employer's HR folk, they're really lovely, very good at their jobs, and want to help. But if I have to have a formal meeting with them, I would definitely bring along my union rep.

[reactordev]

Entirely this. When you are interacting with HR, that person on the other side is trying to protect the company from whatever claims you are about to make.

[andrewaylett]

Any claims are irrelevant to the inherent adversarial nature of the role, which comes from the authority they wield.

Edit: which also means you're not wrong, if you've got claims that trigger damage control then HR are even less your friend.