Most employment lawsuits involve human resources in some way, be that accusations of neglectful conduct, HR stepping in to try to improve the situation or even an HR plaintiff at the center of the lawsuit. But some lawsuits allege behavior that seems to go above and beyond, claiming HR played an active and central role in making the workplace unpleasant for an employee or group of employees — or, as in one story below, gatekeeping them out altogether.

The stories below center on four recent lawsuits that caught our attention for the level of eye-popping complicity alleged against HR, from looking through a worker’s private coaching sessions for “dirt” on his relationships with colleagues to conducting “fake” interviews of Black candidates to satisfy DEI goals.

Of course, as of now, these allegations remain just that: allegations. Still, there’s something for HR to learn. When HR pros experience top-down pressure to compromise their ethics or outright break the law, they need to protect the standards, not power, an HR consultant recently told HR Dive. While standing up to higher-ups can be uncomfortable (and can potentially cost one’s job), the alternative could be significantly more damaging.