Discussion on question by ann private: Problematic employee that can't be fired

How can you say he is not racist in an explicit way, and then immediately follow up by quoting him saying "I don't think its a good idea to have someone of (whatever minority / gender / etc) do that". That is very explicitly racist/sexist/etcist.

I think it's important to note that firing people doesn't somehow make them better people. Assuming the symptoms can be treated, the only reason I can think of firing them is some sort of mob justice.

The whole "thought crimes" discussion is off-topic. The person in the OP's question is not guilty of "thought crimes". The whole issue is that their racism has surfaced through and as part of work-contributions. The whole argument of "should a person who is racist, but doesn't in any way act on it" does not apply to this scenario.

@Niko1978 So, let's imagine the end goal where every company does the same thing, and no racists have jobs. Does that actually make them less racist?

Being racist isn't an action or a decision. You are disappointed that a racist has a job. However, being racist alone is a thought crime. People should be judged on their actions (as you say). Sacrificing people as a form of virtue signalling (or as you put it "sending a signal") is quite immoral in my opinion. We don't understand the rationale for why the person has that particular worldview, but we can set a standard of behaviour that makes that worldview irrelevant.

@annprivate This question is certainly on topic here, but the folks at Interpersonal Skills may be able to help with being able to approach the conversation with him as well.

@MaxA. That's not true at all. If you are talking about a person holding a belief that one race is superior to another, that is not a decision. You can't decide to believe something. The concept doesn't make sense. But to speak about those beliefs, and put it in writing, that is a different story.

The definition of racist is quite understood, I believe the outstanding question is if people should be fired over thought crimes.