I was layed off for 32 hours as punishment, there were no formal warnings or write ups beforehand

The president, one of the vice presidents, HR rep, and executive manager had a meeting and came to the decision of layoffs. No reasoning was given to us or our department manager as to why, it was the end of the year so it was speculated that it was a money thing. When a warehouse worker asked a couple weeks later if he needed to worry for his job due to layoffs the president told him 'no, the layoffs were punishment to me and my 3 coworkers specifically'. I work at a small company 20-30 employees. It was also mentioned that it was mainly directed at me and 2 of my coworkers (the only young females at the company) and our male coworker was layed off for less time because he was collateral damage. There has been a lot of informal disapproval of me and my female coworkers talking at work, taking breaks together, or lunch together, or doing tasks together. Were the lay offs legal?