> non-meritocratic compensation policies

I'm yet to find a company which you couldn't accuse of that. The truth about humans is, no matter what your way of determining rewards are, there will always be someone to complain that they deserve more and is being treated unjustly.

Apart that the only illegal thing is the second, do you really think that people is aware of this or that they give a shit?

Plenty of people do give a shit.