Judgment_paragraph 64 · AI v European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (T-65/19)

64Where a request for assistance for the purposes of Article 24 of the Staff Regulations is made to the appointing authority (‘AA’) or, as the case may be, to the authority authorised to conclude contracts of employment (‘AECE) of an institution under Article 90(1) of the Staff Regulations, it must, in accordance with the obligation to provide assistance and if that authority is confronted with an incident which is incompatible with the orderly and smooth running of the service, intervene with all the necessary energy and respond with the speed and solicitude required by the circumstances of the case with a view to establishing the facts and drawing the appropriate, and informed, consequences. To that end, it is sufficient that the official or staff member who is seeking the protection of his or her institution provide prima facie evidence that the attacks of which that person claims to have been the victim actually took place. In the presence of such evidence, it is for the institution in question to take appropriate measures, in particular by having an administrative enquiry carried out, in order to establish the facts giving rise to the complaint, in collaboration with the person making the complaint, and, in the light of the results of the enquiry to adopt the necessary measures, such as the opening of disciplinary proceedings, against the person concerned when the administration concludes, at the end of the administrative investigation, that psychological harassment has occurred (see judgment of 3 October 2019, DQ and Others v Parliament, T‑730/18, EU:T:2019:725, paragraph 80 and the case-law cited).