In Willson v. State Personnel Bd. (1980) 113 Cal.App.3d 312, the employee admitted that although he called in sick he had in fact gone out of town to salvage some free lumber for his private interest. There could in neither case be any question that the absences were without leave. Therefore, under applicable statutory or civil service rules the unauthorized absences could be deemed resignation and the sole issue at these hearings was one of the potential defense of justification, on which the employee had the burden not only of proof but also of going forward with the evidence. In fact, the language of section 33 does not contemplate that the determination that an absence was not authorized would be open to question, thus permitting a summary and unilateral determination by the employer as to what facts substantiate an implied resignation by the employee. The court upheld against due process attack the constitutionality of the automatic resignation provision of Government Code section 19503, in principal similar to section 33. In that case the employee admitted that on several occasions he had called in "sick" when he had in fact gone out of town to salvage for private purposes a quantity of free lumber. The court concluded that the employee received all the procedural rights he was due by the opportunity afforded subsequent to his automatic resignation to explain the cause of his absence and rejected his argument that he was entitled to greater procedural safeguards prior to his severance from civil service under Skelly v. State Personnel Bd. (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194. The court in the Willson case was not, however, confronted with the issue presented by Ms. Curia on this appeal. Conceding that the property interest of the employee in his civil service job was substantial, the court nonetheless concluded due process was satisfied, relying on a balancing of interests and the fact that there was no conflict in the facts establishing his implied resignation. The court notably observed: "Plaintiff does not dispute that he engaged in the conduct causing his resignation, and in the nature of such matters, conduct giving rise to automatic resignation is rarely, if ever, susceptible to factual dispute. Thus the risk of erroneous applications of the statute is nominal and would in any event scarcely be diminished by provision for pre-removal hearing . . . ." ( Willson v. State Personnel Bd., supra, 113 Cal.App.3d 312, 317.)