My guess is they had stock grants whose value went up as the share price rose. As a result they were being paid more than their level and performance rating wou

My guess is they had stock grants whose value went up as the share price rose. As a result they were being paid more than their level and performance rating would typically dictate and to sustain that level of pay they would have needed a promotion. When that didn’t happen, their pay fell to what their intended pay grade was, but in relative terms it amounted to a pay cut.