I don’t think senior in that context is what you think it means. It tends to mean experienced/higher ranking people and not senior citizens. Senior engineers, for instance, are engineers with more than 8 years experience.
Senior engineers with more than 8 years of experience are more likely to be of senior age. Age discrimination in the US is discriminatory actions affecting 40+ year olds.
Because "getting rid of senior people" is exactly what that is.