I don't know. Just because an employee is not compensated for her time off, it doesn't mean the absence was without cost to the employer. Chances are high they had to hire a temp to cover for her. And temps are a lot more costly than permanent hires because of the middleman. Further, they would have had to arrange ahead of time for coverage.
If the woman took off the week before, meaning she had nine days straight off, it would not seem unreasonable to expect her back the following day. If the woman was the emotional type (and by age forty she ought to know that much about herself), then she should have scheduled her week for Tuesday through Monday, instead of Monday through Sunday.
I'm guessing she just presumed she could take Monday off without penalty and didn't even bother to call in. Result? Employer is scrambling to cover for her at the last minute. Not cool. Not professional. Not employed.
I am sympathetic to her travails but then I would have scheduled the day off afterwards to chill out if I were the emotional type. At the very least, I would have called someone as soon as I knew coming to work on Monday would be difficult. And if they had requested I show up anyway, I would have been there, tissues in hand. I know that might be a little hard-hearted and it might be that I tend to be the type to distract myself from emotions with work rather than wallowing in it.
Still, I'm sorry it happened. If I were advising the company, I would have told the manager to wait until the next infraction and then lower the boom. The timing is lousy.
I strongly suspect this WAS the 'Next infraction'. We really don't know anything about what preceded this but I would think if she was doing well at her job this would not have happened.
What I do find surprising is the knee jerk condemnation by many here of the employer because this one-sided presentation of facts involves the War and our troops. There is more to this than meets the eye IMO and I strongly suspect this woman is not the innocent victim she portrays herself to be.