Trending @Cognizant; Manager scolded us for reaching out to HR directly with queries.

We are held back from promotions when everyone else got promoted. We are being kept as non billable resources in the project and manager said they'll release us when they want to.

So we reached out to HR asking for eligibility criteria for promotions.

HR replied to the manager instead of me. And then Manager scolded me for mailing HR directly.

I didn't have any complaints in the mail. I was only asking the criteria for promotions and when can I expect to be promoted. I think this is highly unethical.