Hi, let's start by breaking down the stimulus. Conclusion: Ms. Tours's request should be denied Why? Although her complaint seems justified because her job performance is excellent and superior to others, to raise her salary would jeopardize the integrity of the merit-based system by sending the message that people can get raises if they complain.
What's the flaw here? It seems to be that because they grant her request is justified, denying her would in itself jeopardize the integrity of the merit based system because it wouldn't be based on merit if they deny her! (since her claim indeed is merit-based).
A) Nope, don't know anything about an unofficial basis B) They didn't take a problem with the persuasiveness of the evidence - in fact, they agreed that her evidence was persuasive C) Nope, they're just raising the issue about integrity D) We don't care about the other people who received merit increases E) Yes, because if they deny Ms. Tours's request then their system clearly isn't based on merit and therefore denying her would undermine their merit system's integrity.
Hope this helps, feel free to follow up with further questions.
