Dive Brief:

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vice president of communications David Tovar is leaving after 18 years, the company announced Sept. 12, without giving a reason for his departure.

• Anonymous sources said the fact that Tovar never graduated from the University of Delaware in 1996, as was stipulated on his resume, came out in routine due diligence the company conducts on employees at Tovar’s level, and that that was the reason he left, Bloomberg reports.

• Tovar had dealt with a range of communications issues at Wal-Mart, and his duties were expanded earlier this year.

Dive Insight:

This summer Tovar made waves with a corporate blog post that critically edited a June 19 column in the New York Times by Timothy Egan. “Thanks for sharing your first draft,” reads Tovar’s red-inked edits on Egan’s post. “Below are a few thoughts to ensure something inaccurate doesn’t get published.” 

Egan had written about companies’ responsibilities to address income inequality by providing better wages.

“Walmart, the nation’s top private employer and the world’s largest public corporation, is a big part of the problem — and could be a big part of the solution,” Egan wrote. “Their humiliating wages force thousands of employees to look to food stamps, Medicaid and other forms of welfare.” 

Tovar’s own reported issues with accuracy is a tough situation for a company whenever it may be interested in setting the record straight.