A total of seven employees have left Weyco, a Michigan based health benefits administrating company, rather than be tested for smoking tobacco. The company now states it will not hire anybody who remains a smoker due to rising health care costs. That is true even if the employee smokes at home and not at work.

'I don't want to pay for the results of smoking,' said Weyco founder Howard Weyers.

'Some call this a violation of privacy,' Weyers said in a statement. 'Weyco is proud of its stance on smoking and wellness. For every smoker who quits because of it, there will be many people -- family members, friends, coworkers -- who are very thankful the person won't be going to an early grave.'

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has reported that smokers require $1,623 more per year in medical costs than nonsmokers, amassing excess medical bills of $75.5 billion nationwide.

Under Michigan state law, Weyers is within his rights. He began testing his employees for tobacco use by using a urine test. Those refusing to submit to the tests or those failing them will lose their jobs.

John Banzhaf, executive director of a national antismoking lobby known as Action on Smoking and Health supports Weyco's policy. 'A lot of attention has been focused on the rights of smoker and not at the rights of the majority of people who are forced to subsidize those smokers,' he said.

Others don't see it that way. Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, a spinoff of the American Civil Liberties Union said, 'Your boss has no legal business to tell you what to do in your private life. The idea that an employer has the right to control an employee's private life in the name of health has sweeping implications ... because everything is health related.'

Thus far 29 states have passed laws preventing employers from firing employees for smoking. Michigan is not one of those states.