>... they had to send out follow up emails saying the original emails are legit and it's ok to click the links in them.

Sounds like something a phisher would do. Better not click.

I worked somewhere that would send the notice to do mandatory security training from a suspicious email and the message was very short (something like you have been enrolled in training at https://phishing.site.example.com/abdlejrj). In always just reported them as phishing and no one ever followed up.