The everyday reality is that most HR directors and teams strive hard to serve employees. But, the recent allegations of sexual harassment against former Fox News’ star Bill O’Reilly has again raised questions around the effectiveness of HR.

O’Reilly’s former employer pushed him out from his prime-time hosting slot April 19, but not after he cost the media giant millions,The New York Times reports.

Two and a half weeks before being let go, an investigation by The Times found that O’Reilly and the company had settled for about $13 million with five women who alleged sexual harassment or other improper behavior by him. More than 50 advertisers had ditched O’Reilly’s show when the scandal broke.

"HR is not your friend. HR will not help you,” Nancy Erika Smith said earlier this month at the Women in the World conference, CNN Money reports. Smith represented a former Fox News’ anchor, Gretchen Carlson, in her harassment lawsuit against network founder Roger Ailes.

Fox had already hired an HR specialist last year to help repair the damage to its brand from the Ailes scandal, as previously reported in PHRM.

"The first call you make is to an attorney... You need to find out what the laws are," Smith added. Anita Hill also noted in a recent Washington Post op-ed that “today, we have at least progressed to the point that there are more avenues for reporting than ever before.”

But Hill, who in 1991 told a Senate hearing about sexual harassment she said she experienced from Clarence Thomas when she spoke at his then-Supreme Court confirmation hearing, said HR faces obstacles. Hill is now professor of social policy, law and women’s studies at Brandeis University. 

“[T]here are still companies that pay lip service to human-resources departments while quietly allowing women to be vilified when they come forward,” Hill wrote.

O’Reilly earlier this month defended himself against the sexual harassment charges by pointing to Fox News’ internal hotline for reporting wrongdoing. O’Reilly said he has been a target due to his high visibility in the public, The New York Times reported.

“Just like other prominent and controversial people, I’m vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity,” O’Reilly said in a statement. “In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline."

Before cutting ties with O’Reilly, Fox News’ parent, 21st Century Fox, echoed his point that no woman has ever called the hotline, according to an article in The Washington Post. But Gretchen Carlson’s lawyer, Smith, dismissed HR as ineffective. Her client settled for $20 million from Ailes in an out-of-court settlement.

“Going to human resources in a company like that is like going to the KGB to complain about Putin,” Smith said. She also noted that “none of my clients, or the women I talked to, were even aware of a hotline” until 2016 when Fox News had a law firm conduct an independent investigation over allegations of a hostile workplace. 

Complaints about O’Reilly date back more than 15 years, Smith said. HR should be on the front-lines of pushing for investigations over harassment and not be afraid of taking enforcement action, CNN Money reports 

"A good HR office is the linchpin for an employer's effective system for learning about harassment and then responding quickly and effectively," said Chai Feldblum, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Feldblum noted companies fall short in being serious about enforcing their own policies and in not being willing to hold their star workers accountable.

"If there's a breakdown, it tends to be because the people at the very top are not really committed to stopping and remedying harassment," she said. Companies quickly lose credibility when their employees see that high performers who violate harassment policies are not punished. 

"The biggest single problem and complaint we hear from employees and workplaces, is, 'Oh yeah, I know that applies to me, but that doesn't apply to John, because he's a top performer,'" said Weldon Latham, a lawyer at Jackson Lewis law firm who represents employers in harassment cases.