sigh...i should have looked closer at this Mike before i gave you the above answer...which will work...but the answer below is way easier than what i gave you.
this method will not involve a subreport.
go back to your first / existing report, go to the Database Expert and add in your scale table and then link the scale table between your employee table using the step field in the employee table and the step field in your scale table..
now in your main report create a formula similar to:
select {youremployeetable.lane field}
case 1 : {yourscaletable.LaneII field}
case 2: {yourscaletable.LaneIII field}
case 3: {yourscaletable.LaneIV field}
case 4: {yourscaletable.LaneV field};
again, apologies and i hope that you didn't spend a whole lot of time on the above solution. and if you did, hopefully it got you a bit more familiar with subreports and linking.
-jamie