No surprise here
In my experience I have seen older employees who were dismissed due primarily to their well earned compensation. Short sighted management often feels senior employees are over compensated when it's usually just the opposite. Often less experienced or talented younger employees are unable to deliver the same results as a senior employee. Many executive managers operate in a vacuum and never interact with the people they chose to unjustly terminate. They'll always find a bogus means to get rid of people they chose.