You were promoted three months ago to supervise a team of foreign-language translators for an international investment firm. The job is great--that is, it was great, until the paperwork for next round of pay increases arrived on your desk. That's when you discovered that one of your people makes $10,000 a year more than you or anyone else in your group.

After the zeroes came back into focus, you tried to rationalize Penelope's salary. It's true she holds a Ph.D. to everyone else's master's degree. She also has three years' more experience than anyone else. And there's no doubt that she works hard and does a very good job.

But not that good! At least, not good enough to justify her getting the lion's share of the small merit-increase pool. The other six members of your team are also hard-working high-achievers, and in your judgment, at least two of them are more deserving of substantial raises than Penelope.

However, it's not your judgment that's being asked for. It's the last set of performance evaluations your predecessor completed that are being used to set this year's raises, and just before you took over he gave Penelope straight 10s--just as he did for the last three years running.

You know that even confidential information like raises and salaries can show up on the company grapevine. You don't want to do anything that will adversely affect your team's excellent performance, but you also you feel strongly that Penelope's paycheck is too high and that others deserve a bigger piece of the merit raise pool than she does. What's your best move?