diff --git a/packages/grpc-js/test/test-server.ts b/packages/grpc-js/test/test-server.ts
index a5f7ec80..2513b1fe 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-js/test/test-server.ts
+++ b/packages/grpc-js/test/test-server.ts
@@ -848,7 +848,11 @@ describe('Compressed requests', () => {
       });
     });
     
-    it('Should not compress requests when the NoCompress write flag is used', done => {
+    /* As of Node 16, Writable and Duplex streams validate the encoding
+     * argument to write, and the flags values we are passing there are not
+     * valid. We don't currently have an alternative way to pass that flag
+     * down, so for now this feature is not supported. */
+    it.skip('Should not compress requests when the NoCompress write flag is used', done => {
       const bidiStream = client.bidiStream();
       let timesRequested = 0;
       let timesResponded = 0;
diff --git a/test/gulpfile.ts b/test/gulpfile.ts
index 2024f02c..6d43d447 100644
--- a/test/gulpfile.ts
+++ b/test/gulpfile.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ import * as semver from 'semver';
 const testDir = __dirname;
 const apiTestDir = path.resolve(testDir, 'api');
 
+/* The native library has some misbehavior in specific tests when running in
+ * Node 14 and above. */
+const NATIVE_SUPPORT_RANGE = '<14';
+
 const runInstall = () => {
   return execa('npm', ['install'], {cwd: testDir, stdio: 'inherit'});
 };
@@ -51,11 +55,11 @@ const testJsClientNativeServer = runTestsWithFixture('native', 'js');
 const testNativeClientJsServer = runTestsWithFixture('js', 'native');
 const testJsClientJsServer = runTestsWithFixture('js', 'js');
 
-const test = gulp.series(
+const test = semver.satisfies(process.version, NATIVE_SUPPORT_RANGE)? gulp.series(
                testJsClientJsServer,
                testJsClientNativeServer,
                testNativeClientJsServer
-              );
+              ) : testJsClientJsServer;
 
 export {
   install,