Many people think that they live in a free democracy.
In reality, something like 50% of all working people are employed in a strict hierarchical organisation that is essentially feudal in its nature.
Most employees are the equivalent of serfs, overseen by lords, with a king in charge. The common employees don't get a vote. Their managers are not elected. They don't get a say in policy. The managers in turn form a strict hierarchy, much like in feudal times, with a top-down structure. A junior manager cannot say no to a senior manager. Nobody can say no to the CEO.
In this picture HR is essentially the inquisition. The inquisition was most certainly not the friend of the common man!
If you buck the system, if you step out of your place, if you're a commoner upsetting a lord, then you will be treated much like your ancestors would have been treated long ago: You will be put to the question. The inquisition will spare no pain to determine exactly why you stepped out of line and upset the natural order of things.