Hi Carol

This sounds as though this scenario is suitable to set up as a certification if the Newhire course is required to be completed by everyone who hasn't completed this for a year or a program if this is only required to be completed once.

If the user is suspended and they are unassigned from the certification their certification progress will be reinstated if they are reassigned to the Certification. 

To counter the reinstatement of certification or program progress a purge type for suspended users that deletes their Program or Certification assignment and progress.

I couldn't think of a simpler way to achieve this but others may.

Regards