In my experiences, the weakest link, by far in any organization has been HR.
They are staffed by maniacal women, fags or omega-level “males”. They are not your advocate; they are there to either try to screw you or make sure you get screwed - like you did.
And before someone else jumps in to defend HR, I’ll preemptively say: “Piss off, no one cares”. For every 1 HR drone that’s somewhat human, there are 10,000 that are soulless beasts.
There is no position in the human resources department of any company that could not be performed by another, and would almost certainly be better performed by another.
Send hiring, discipline and firing back to the direct managers. Finance can manage benefits administration. Legal can do the rest of the regulatory compliance.
The politically correct sensitivity training pap can be dumped without affecting a company’s performance one iota at worst—and improving it substantially at best by removing a source of workplace tension and hostility.