BOSTON -- A Massachusetts lawn care worker who was fired for being a smoker is now firing back.

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He's filing a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in Massachusetts.

The case is likely to be watched very closely, because the man was fired not for smoking on the job but for smoking off the job.

Scott Rodrigues, 30, was fired in the fall for failing a drug test administered by his employer, Scotts Lawn Service. The father of a 4-year-old boy, Rodriguez said he was astonished when he was told his employment was being terminated.

"I don't do anything. I don't drink, I don't do anything. And he goes, 'No, it was for nicotine,' and the room's spinning, basically, I'm going, what? I got tears welling up in my eyes. I go, 'You know, I love this job,'" Rodrigues recalled.

The lawn care company had adopted a new policy of not hiring workers who use tobacco products. The intent is to reduce employee health care costs. The legal question, however, revolves around whether it's discriminatory to fire someone for doing something on their own time that's legal, but against company policy.

"I go look, this isn't right. This is what I do at home. I never smoke in the vehicles. Never smoke in front of people. Never smoke in front of customers. I never smoke at the shop," Rodrigues said.

He said the company offers a smoking cessation program which he had planned to take part in. Now, he just wants his job back.

"Definitely like a chance to work and I really, I'd like for this thing to go away, but I don't want it to go away without everybody being protected," Rodrigues said.

The company said it's simply an economic issue, saying that it's a well-documented fact that smoking employees have more health problems.