This doesn’t surprise me. I know a gal who reported retaliation at Google and was immediately put on a secret HR blacklist that prevented her from getting above a certain perf rating. She was later “laid off” without cause.

She recorded her chat with HR, and this is a direct quote from the HR person: “Oh, that’s not retaliation. That’s a very specific legal construct. It sounds like what your manager is doing is more like retribution.”