I see this was posted a long time ago, but I hope you are still around. This is exactly what happened recently to me. I took abuse for 5 years at my job and didn't report it because we were all made to feel in the department that it would be ten times worse if we told on her. It took me 5 years to finally break the silence to protect myself and the department. And the HR person did say almost the exact thing. Underneath I'm sure much of the jealousy from this person toward others is that she is miserable. We are now being protected from higher up. But it's good to know that this stuff does go on. Not that it does, but that it's something that happens and is understood by HR persons.
_________________________
The Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about.