By Josefin Dolsten/(JTA) – The Conservative movement has launched a hotline for reporting sexual impropriety in response to an allegation by a former member of its youth movement that he was inappropriately touched by a staff member.

Last week, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism launched an investigation into the allegation, made by a former United Synagogue Youth member who in a Facebook post named a male former senior staff member in the 1980s as the perpetrator. On Monday, the Conservative umbrella group launched a confidential phone hotline as well as an email address for reporting sexual assault or harassment. “At this moment we have a very serious allegation, and we thought it was necessary to be public that that allegation has been made and to invite people that may have been victimized to contact us to so we can gather more information and determine next steps,” USCJ CEO Rabbi Steven Wernick told JTA on Monday.

Wernick said USCJ had attempted to contact the former USY member several times to learn more about the claim but that he had not responded. A public Facebook post did not name the alleged abuser; the accused was named in a closed group. The alleged abuser was “a long-standing member of our staff for whom we’ve had no previous anything to question his integrity or service,” Wernick said. The man no longer works for USY in a full-time capacity, Wernick said, and contract work he was doing for the organization was suspended upon the investigation’s launch.

In 2011 the group instituted a series of policies, procedures and training for all USCJ staff in regard to sexual harassment and child protective issues.

Since then, USCJ has probed two allegations of inappropriate behavior, Wernick said. One took place in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the other in the ‘90s.

NCSY, the youth group sponsored by the Orthodox Union, put in place a set of policies relating to sexual impropriety in 2001, a year after The Jewish Week reported that Director of Regions Rabbi Baruch Lanner had sexually abused more than a dozen youth group participants. Lanner was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2002 and released on parole in 2008. NFTY, the Reform youth movement, handles allegations of sexual harassment or assault on a case-by-case basis, said Managing Director Beth Rodin.

Those wishing to reach the USCJ hotline can call 212-533-7813 or send an email to confidential@uscj.org.