Painter fires secretary in Bury (5)
I believe the answer is:
inter
'bury' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'painter fires secretary' is the wordplay.
'fires' suggests deleting specific letters.
'secretary' becomes 'PA' (abbreviation for personal assistant).
'painter' with 'pa' taken out is 'INTER'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for inter that I've seen before include "Entomb" , "Set deep" , "get put down!" , "Settle in ground" , "Prefix meaning between or among" .)