It's well-known that small businesses suffer from a crushingburden of employment-related, safety-related, andenvironmental-related rules and regulations from various governmentagencies.

It is also understood that small businesses are expected to meetcertain relevant requirements from their large private businesscustomers, such as certain product quality standards, pricingguidelines, delivery schedules, etc.

However, there is now a new wrinkle. At least one large privatecorporation has made the decision to dictate employment policy toits suppliers, many of which are small businesses.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it will require all of itsvendors with 50 employees or more to provide a total of 15 days ofpaid sick time and vacation time to their employees. (Microsoft'semployees currently receive 10 days of paid sick time a year, plus15 to 25 paid vacation days, depending on their length ofservice.)

Adding fuel to Microsoft's fire is the fact that theAdministration is pushing Congress to pass a bill giving workersseven days of paid sick leave. According to the president, the U.S.is the only advanced economy in the world that does not requirepaid sick leave, and 43 million workers do not have it.

Recently, a U.S. senator and a U.S. representative reintroducedthe Healthy Families Act, which would give employees seven days ofpaid sick leave a year. A version of this bill has been introducedevery Congressional session since 2004, but has never made it tothe floor.

"We believe paid time off is an important benefit for workers inour economy," said Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vicepresident, legal and corporate affairs, for Microsoft. "The lack ofpaid time off disproportionately impacts low-wage earners. Whileestimates vary, the overall trend is clear. As one study found,only 49 percent of those in the bottom fourth of earners get paidtime off, compared to almost 90 percent among the top quarter ofearners."

Smith added: "The people who work for our suppliers are criticalto our success, and we want them to have the benefit of paid timeoff."

Recognizing that this new requirement may increase costs forsome of its suppliers, Microsoft's plan is to work with thesesuppliers to implement these changes over the next twelve months."We appreciate that this may ultimately result in increased costsfor Microsoft, and we will put a process in place for addressingthese issues with our suppliers," said Smith.

He added: "We want to be sensitive to the needs of smallbusinesses. For these reasons, we are going to launch a broadconsultation process with our suppliers so we can solicit feedbackand learn from them about the best way to phase in the specificdetails. However, we are committed to the direction that we haveset."

In an article in the March 26, 2015, edition of the BostonGlobe, Bill Vernon, Massachusetts director of the NationalFederation of Independent Business was quoted as saying in responseto Microsoft's announcement, "It makes it more difficult to createjobs and grow your company, and there's a trade-offeconomically."

Indeed, according to the article, employees at one Microsoftvendor, Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) expressedconcern that the company might be required to reduce their pay inorder to offset the increased costs the company will face as aresult of Microsoft's policy.

Is Microsoft's move the beginning of a new trend? Or simply ananomaly? "There may be some ripple effect, as other organizationsmay want to encourage paid vacation and sick time," said CarolSladek, partner and Work-Life Consulting Lead for Aon Hewitt.

"Large corporations have always offered these kinds of benefitsto their own employees," said Mary Tavarozzi, North AmericaPractice Leader - Absence and Disability Management, for TowersWatson. "However, for a private corporation to have this sort ofrequirement for its vendors is unique at this point. Whether or notthis will be a trend is probably too early to say."