The Independent has asked its long-standing, award-winning education editor Lucy Hodges to leave.
She has refused to accept a redundancy offer and has been backed by the National Union of Journalists' chapel.
Her situation has caused concern among some staff who believe there was an understanding following the paper's acquisition by Alexander Lebedev in March that there would not be any mandatory redundancies.
Hodges has been with the Indy for 11 years, having worked for the paper as a freelance for four years before that, specialising in the coverage of higher education.
She was responsible for editing the free-standing education supplement, which has since been absorbed within the main paper.
I understand that she was offered an alternative to redundancy, a post on the foreign desk, which she rejected.
The Independent's management originally demanded that she leave the paper by tomorrow and conduct her appeal against redundancy while serving her notice out of the office.
An NUJ protest against that decision, with the threat of a chapel meeting later today, led to a change of mind. She will remain on the paper until the matter is resolved.
Some of her Independent colleagues are upset that the paper has just hired two new writers - Julie Burchill and Mary-Ann Sieghart - while casting out the education editor.
One staff member told me: "I can see the logic, because it's possible that high-profile columnists may attract readers. But it also suggests the paper is being dumbed down.
"Higher education may not be sexy, but the government's cuts mean it is an important story right now, and Lucy, who is one of the most knowledgeable correspondents in the field, is the best person to cover the subject."
But a senior Independent executive said: "It's a simple matter. There was an education supplement and there is no longer, because there was no advertising support for it and we were losing money. So the job of editing it has vanished.
"Let's say we stopped covering cricket, then the cricket correspondent would be redundant.
"We offered Lucy a good job on the foreign desk and she turned it down, which is a pity. In view of this, we can't understand why the NUJ is making a fuss.
"What I can say without a doubt is that this is a one-off situation. It is not the thin end of the wedge. It does not presage a wave of redundancies, or any redundancies at all."