Sexual Harassment Compliance Risk: What the Appraisal Institute Case Reveals About Early Detection and Digital Oversight

Has your boss ever hugged you at work? Or stood beside you and touched you in a way that made you freeze? 

Multiple women say that’s what Craig Steinley did while serving in senior leadership at the Appraisal Institute — the trade group that helps certify more than 70,000 real estate appraisers across all 50 states. One of those women, Cindy Chance, is now suing the organization in Illinois state court, according to a New York Times investigation. Her allegations: that Steinley groped her buttocks, made sexualized remarks about her body, and repeatedly referred to her as his “girlfriend.”

The allegations also spotlight a broader issue for companies and trade groups alike: the sexual harassment compliance risk that arises when early warning signs are ignored.

He denies the claims. But Chance is not the only one to come forward. At least seven women have described similar incidents, including groping, inappropriate comments, and retaliation for reporting concerns. One received a $412,000 settlement. Others say they were fired or sidelined after speaking up. According to the New York Times, board members and in-house counsel were aware of the allegations but failed to take meaningful action.

Although much of the reported misconduct happened in person — at meetings, conferences, or office gatherings — harassment rarely stays offline. Suggestive remarks, inappropriate familiarity, and repeated patterns of disrespect often cross over from in-person interactions into the digital world, leaving a trail, particularly in email.

This is where digital oversight becomes a critical part of risk mitigation. Tools like HarmCheck.ai analyze employee emails for language that may signal unlawful or harmful behavior — sexual harassment, discriminatory remarks, even retaliation. The system alerts employees before they send a problematic message, and it provides compliance leaders with daily alerts and weekly summaries to surface potential risks early.

Too often, companies wait until behavior becomes public, through a lawsuit, to act. But corporate culture doesn’t begin in court filings. It begins in daily communication.

The financial cost of inaction is considerable. Sexual harassment settlements can range from an average of $56,000 in California in 2024, according to Southern California law firm Kingsley-Szamet, to the $1.1 billion that the University of Southern California agreed to pay to hundreds of students sexually abused by campus gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall, in a combination of three sets of settlements. In Australia alone, sexual harassment costs employers over $2.6 billion per year, factoring in lost productivity, turnover, and litigation, according to a report by Deloitte & Touche for the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2018.

Takeaways for risk and compliance officers:

• Digital traces matter. Even when misconduct begins in person, it often shows up in email language, tone, and patterns that can reveal deeper issues.

• AI helps spot what people overlook. A single message may be subtle. Repeated patterns over time are not.

• Early detection saves more than money. It protects culture, credibility, and leadership accountability.

  
  

Ignoring warning signs is rarely about a lack of awareness — it’s about a lack of action. HarmCheck exists to change that.

Book a free demo with HarmCheck today: http://harmcheck.ai/demo

Carolyne Zinko is the editorial director and AI editor at Alphy.

HarmCheck by Alphy is an AI communication compliance solution that detects and flags language that is harmful, unlawful, and unethical in digital communication. Alphy was founded to reduce the risk of litigation from harmful and discriminatory communication while helping employees communicate more effectively. For more information: www.harmcheck.ai.