Hi Steve, I think the simple answer is to size your div's height using ems also. If you can't do that for some reason then you could just set the top level list items elements to a fixed height in using height:28px;overflow:hidden; and change the top and bottom padding on the links to use px instead of ems.
I still think altering the way your design works so that the div height can be set in ems is the best solution, if possible. Cheers Joel Birch