Boss: it has come to my attention that several individuals have not adhered to professional guidelines and have made statements to other employees revealing their rate of pay. Your rate of pay is a private matter between you and the person who signs your check.
Employee: I'm not sure if it's lawful for you to ask employees not to discuss their pay.
Boss: There are some laws surrounding this you are correct. However discussing pay at work is inadvisable. That being said all employees have signed a statement that they will not discuss pay. If this is a problem for anyone please speak with me privately.
This is totally wrong, right? What are the steps I can take? I don't even care about my pay compared to others, but just making this statement makes me suspicious that there's a reason they want this to stop. Is there something I can/should do?