I don't have too much of an issue with employees buying the chase variants themselves. Every job has it's perks. You could view it as activision tipping the retail employees, the same way they give exclusives to their own employees. And it also has the side effect of making retail employees more knowledgeable about the product, which should help sell products.
Sure, I'm not crazy about reducing my odds of finding a chase variant, but I don't expect someone to leave $100+ just to make some unappreciative customer and manager happy. Heck, it could even be the manager who's buying them up.
There are very strict rules on this - it boils down to the item must have made it to the floor before it gets sold (i.e. the consumer had a chance to get it).
My wife works for a retail chain and whilst she picks up some bargains (not SL related but to do with kids clothes, shoes and homeware), those bargains were all on display to the customer for quite some time until my wife finishes her shift and buys them like a normal customer.