whoa. CONTRACT? if you have a contract with this company, call a lawyer RIGHT NOW. contracts have stipulations, clauses, lots of little things to keep people from doing this kind of thing.

talk with the person who actually did the holiday booking...in my workplace, there is a large calendar that only one person is allowed to write on/erase, and it shows all the holidays that are booked (reference for people who haven't booked it off yet). basically, if you booked your holiday, there is somebody there who did it...payroll dept., secretary, personell dept, whatever...just find out who it was, and speak (nicely) with them. if they still give you hassle, raise all hell. demand to speak with the company president, and your supervisor. tell them to bring their copy of your contract, and their legal team, as well as proof that the company tried to contact you while you were gone.

always get a paper trail...call the phone company to see if you got any calls the week you were gone. if you didn't show up for a week, and the company thought you were supposed to be there, it stands to reason that they would try to find you, right?

in my humble opinion, you're being screwed because you're the new guy, and they figure you won't do anything about it...prove them wrong. its unlawful termination, and they can't do that.