Is any company obliged to give their staff $1500 per year in benefits just because the laws accomodate it? You make it sound like it's an entitlement, part of your salary or something...
I dare say that $500 per employee will be going into company profitability, quite likely enabling another upgrade of the services they are able to offer guests. Don't know about you but I'd rather have a better onboard product than another round of snags on white bread