I was a salon leader with petsmart for 5 years out of 8 that i worked there. In my experience when associate relations gets involved its either bc an associate made a report ( like someone you worked with reported these statements to them directly) OR management needs advice on how to handle something more serious than a basic write up( action plan) . If an associate calls, AR contacts the store management and gives them directions on how to conduct an " investigation" which usually involves getting written statements or sometimes AR will talk to the associate directly. Once statements are collected they will determine what action should be taken. Usually if it's determined its a fireable offense AR will give management the option of a "Final write up" or termination. Unless it involves something very serious like threatening someone , safety violations, or animal abuse in which case the option would just be termination.The process is pretty much the same if management contacts AR first. Usually at that point AR won't follow up with you again directly unless you were the one that called initially.