Across Colorado, tens of thousands of employees received emails asking them to resign Tuesday, as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape the federal workforce that has received fierce pushback from unions.

While most Department of Defense employees did not receive the email with the subject line “Fork in the Road,” they went out to Defense Health Agency employees who work on military bases in Colorado Springs. One of the largest employers locally within the DHA is Evans Army Community Hospital on Fort Carson, with 2,300 military service members and civilians. 

The offers to resign also went out to employees who work on public lands, such as the Forest Service, National Parks Service and Bureau of Land Management. Across the state, there are almost 40,000 civilian federal employees, according to a 2024 report from the Congressional Research Service. 

Trump offering federal workers buyouts with about 8 months’ pay in effort to shrink government

The emails from the Office of Personnel Management told federal employees that if they resign they will retain “all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025.” The option to resign with pay is available until Feb. 6.

The announcement also outlined the four new pillars for the federal workforce, including a return to in-person work, an emphasis on excellence, overall fewer employees, and enhanced standards of conduct, including trustworthiness. The call for resignations comes ahead of planned layoffs, according to the announcement.

“The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” it said. 

A former civil servant with 38 years on the White River National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, Bill Kight, said he expected federal employees are likely scared and morale is low. Many of those people traded pay for the security of government work.

“Fear is the one thing I think really is running wild right now,” said Kight, who lives in Glenwood Springs.  

If Trump’s proposed layoffs took place they would gut public agencies, Kight said. Those would be in addition to the freeze on seasonal hiring and the planned cuts to the Forest Service budget. 

“A massacre. I mean that’s the first word that comes to mind is a massacre,” he said. 

Democrats and unions challenge Trump’s ‘very generous’ federal employee resignation offer

At the same time public lands are major economic drivers. White River was considered the busiest Nation Forest in the nation during 2023, with 12 million recreation visits per year and an economic impact of $1.59 billion based on pre-pandemic data. 

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., advised federal employees not to take the deal on X, formerly Twitter. 

“He has no authority to promise severance pay. Wait him out,” Kaine said. 

In an email to Defense Health Agency employees, Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, director of the agency, acknowledged that many questions persist and leadership is working to get information for employees. 

“The civilian workforce is the bedrock of this system — making enormous personal sacrifices, providing unique expertise, and offering continuity of operations,” she said. Whatever employees decide to do, the agency will support them, she said. The agency operates 700 facilities globally. 

The press team for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not immediately respond to questions about cuts to the agency Wednesday.

Some prominent unions representing federal employees advised against quitting Wednesday.

“It is a bad deal for employees and the American people they serve. The so-called “deal” is a hostile effort to disparage federal employees, weaken agencies and disrupt the valuable services that these employees provide to the public daily,” said Doreen Greenwald, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union in a statement. The union represents federal employees across 36 agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Greenwald said the union questions whether Office of Personnel Management has the legal authority to put employees on deferred resignation. 

Unions warn government workers not to trust Trump’s offer to quit

“Let’s be clear: This is not about “efficiency,” this is about eliminating vital civil servants and the contributions they make to the American public,” the statement said. 

The American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement he believed Trump’s action will cause chaos.  

“Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” he said. “It is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”

The Office of Personnel Management provided an FAQ page about the offers to resign at opm.gov/fork/faq.

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union, also provided a FAQ page about the deal at afge.org. 

Gazette reporter Seth Boster contributed to this story.