[quote=scaredycat]or maybe the official business ahndbook policy would be that the chasing of a shoplifter is treated as “time off” like a holiday, you don’t get paid for that time, it’s like a break or a vacation.[/quote]

Well, technically, the employees were on their “break”…So technically, their actions wasn’t on company time. On the other hand, they were probably still wearing their company’s clothes.