I worked at a very small company where HR was directly reporting to the CFO (who was gunning for CEO and trying to also spawn his own grandiose IT projects). Our DBA made his negative opinions known in the midst of a data warehouse project sponsored by the CFO. This triggered Mr. Pointy Hair CFO and put the DBA on his shit list.

One day the DBA casually submits a query to HR asking "what is my package if I quit?" The HR director immediately runs to the CFO and tells him about the question posed by the DBA. The CFO flips his shit and is quoted as screaming something about wanting him fired immediately. We just had a change in management and the new CIO wasn't having it. He just ignored the CFO. It didn't end there. Over the next six months the CFO plodded on and eventually got the DBA fired...though the DBA was not trying to smooth anything over. He went to HR a second time to ask about his package. LOL.