What an absolutely insane hypothetical you had to come up with, just to slide your tongue across the muddy sole of a boot.
How is it insane? There are millions of situations where missing teammembers might happen. The flu, holiday season, furry convention. You usually plan for it, but no matter what you do, you can’t plan for everything. Then having someone just not come in means you cannot do what the contract requires.
Getting fired for being denied PTO and then ignoring that and still going is normal. If you can’t plan for shit and people can’t get PTO ever, then it’s a you problem.