Marie VanAmburg is out of work because she is a smoker.

Okemos-based Weyco Inc. fired the repricing analyst in January after she refused to take a tobacco test.

VanAmburg, who works out of her home in Houghton Lake, Mich., filed for unemployment in January and is seeking another job, after eight years with Weyco -?a health insurance and benefits company.

Now, she and three other fired employees are working with Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, to prevent Michigan workers from being punished for activities outside of work.

Weyco announced its tobacco-free policy in the fall of 2003. The rule, implemented on Jan. 1, states that Weyco employees cannot be smokers, inside or outside of work.

The policy is intended to save health insurance costs and improve the health of Weyco's workers, according to the company's Web site.

But VanAmburg doesn't agree with the rules. "You can't only insure healthy people," she said.

Bernero proposed a bill for the state Senate on Monday that would make it illegal for companies to fire employees for engaging in legal activities outside the workplace, as long as the action doesn't directly affect their job performance.

Michigan is an at-will state, meaning employers don't need a reason for firing someone and employees don't have to have a reason to quit - as long as it complies with state and federal discrimination laws, said Harold Core, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

Religion, race, sex, disability, age, height and weight are among the conditions protected by Michigan law.

There are 29 states with smoker protection laws, but Michigan is not included.

"We're not saying you can't smoke," said Gary Climes, Weyco's chief financial officer. "You can smoke - you just can't work for us."

Climes said the company tried other ways to encourage people to quit but didn't see the desired impact.

He said Weyco gave employees more than a year to stop smoking and assisted them with services like acupuncture and hypnotism.

Although Climes hasn't seen the proposed bill, he said Weyco doesn't plan on changing its policy at this time.

Weyco's Web site says that about 12 employees quit smoking of the 15 to 20 that smoked before the policy was put in place.

"We're following the law now, and if a law would not allow us to excuse workers from our workforce, then we would have to follow the law," Climes said.

But Anita Epolito of Haslett, who was fired after refusing to take a tobacco test, said the policy digs too far into her personal life. She said she did not receive her health insurance from the company.

"Basically, I felt very violated," Epolito said. "I knew something didn't set well from the moment I heard it."

When Weyco began requiring tobacco tests, employees who refused the test had to sign a waiver that they knew their job was in danger for not complying.

Epolito said she didn't take advantage of the support services offered by Weyco to help her quit. Instead, she researched her rights for more than a year, but found there was no protection for her situation.

Epolito said she now is aiming her efforts toward creating a new employment protection law and educating citizens on workers' rights.

"We're not the poster children for nicotine," Epolito said. "We're really stressing the privacy issue here."

Bernero said Michigan workers need more protection and called Weyco's action "un-American."

"We all have some bad habits, and we should be helping our employees," he said.

Bernero said he doesn't agree with smoking, but citizens should be educated, rather than punished, over such health issues.

Bernero, who sat on the House Standing Committees for Employment Relations as a state representative, has introduced two bills in the Senate since January that address school nutrition and mail-order prescriptions.

"This company is trying to control aspects of their employees' lives that they don't have any business controlling," he said. "There is a line between your time off and your time at work, and they're trying to skew that line."

But Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, said although he doesn't agree with Weyco's actions, he also disagrees with legislating more government regulation on businesses.

Cropsey said he doubts he will support Bernero's bill.

"Government is already too involved in a lot of ways," he said. "Businesses are entities, and they can run themselves as long as they don't do anything illegal."