(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to implement the provisions of the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act, Texas Health and Safety Code, §85.116, which requires the Department of State Health Services (department) to adopt rules to implement the Act.
(b) Counseling and testing.
  (1) The counseling for state employees exposed to HIV on the job should be performed in accordance with the most current guidelines developed by the department. Copies are available for review in the HIV/STD Comprehensive Services Branch, Department of State Health Services, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3199. Copies also are available on request.
  (2) A state employee who may have been exposed to HIV while engaged in activities within the course and scope of state employment may not be required to be tested for HIV.
  (3) HIV counseling and testing will be performed on the state employee, when requested by that employee, at the expense of the state agency if:
    (A) the employee documents to the agency's satisfaction that he or she may have been exposed to HIV while engaged in activities within the course and scope of state employment; and
    (B) the exposure was a needlestick or other penetrating puncture of the skin with a used needle or other contaminated item; or either a splatter or aerosol into the eye, nose, or mouth or any significant contamination of an open wound or non-intact skin with blood or body fluids known to transmit HIV.
(c) Workers' compensation. To qualify for workers' compensation or similar benefits or compensation, the employee must provide the state agency with a written statement of the date and circumstances of the exposure and document that, within ten days after the date of the exposure, the employee had a test result that indicated the absence of HIV infection. Further information can be obtained from "Risk Management for Texas State Agencies, Volume III, Workers' Compensation Exposures," which is available from the State Office of Risk Management, P.O. Box 13777, Austin, Texas 78711-3777.

Source Note: The provisions of this §97.140 adopted to be effective March 16, 1994, 19 TexReg 1453; amended to be effective October 6, 1997, 22 TexReg 9677; amended to be effective August 5, 2001, 26 TexReg 5819; amended to be effective December 4, 2008, 33 TexReg 9693