Employer Nda Questions - California

Location: California

My new job is a former small business that has recently been bought by a guy with executive experience in big retail (like very big names i cant name here). Hes turned things into a corporate structure with plans to expand (while also employing his spouse in positions like marketing).

My coworker whos been there since before he came on recently was reprimanded about how she talks about the company and that her friends who are ex employees are critical of new ownership. He also said weird stuff about her being young and her entitled generation asking for raises is foolish (maybe age discrimination? Idk).

He said her NDA applies also to talking to other departments about her work (which was never explicitly stated to any of us) but sounded like a veiled legal threat from the owner, which made her consider quitting because it was so out of the norm for our specific industry (which he is new to despite his big retail experience).

She works on the production side co-located with those who work in sales/service, and communication about product issues is essential to safe products and services for ouf clientele. We had a product issue we needed to fix quickly, and did, but now the owner is saying we aren't allowed to talk across departments now due to this "NDA" (which is frankly alarming safety-wise for the service we provide).

Can employees at the same company get in any legal trouble for talking to each other about work related matters relevant to our jobs? We are a private company, LLC. My previous work is in healthcare and this seems like totally bizarre powertripping and manipulation.

I cant say what industry we're in, its too small and would be obvious who im talking about. We careva lot about safety and quality and generally corporate vibes are unwelcome in this industry. Staying gives me pause but i need the rare higher pay and benefits rn.