Are otherwise qualified employees fired the moment a more qualified candidate expresses interest in their job? I don't see that being an issue. Perhaps what determines "qualified" will increase along with pay? I think it will certainly increase the overall quality of employees over time, and this may push out the least capable folks over time.

Has there been any comment by the higher-paid-but-by-no-means-rich contingent of the company? I imagine there are quite a few developers, engineers, and other technical folks in the $90-125k+ range there whom this does not affect directly, but may impact their ability to get raises? The article states company profits are going from $2MM to $500k so the odds of this impacting someone's 3% raise if they make $125k is slim but still a possibility depending on team size and composition (I would think).