The employer should discuss the full facts with the employer's own lawyer.

That said, this is a problematic scenario for the employer. The employee was not treated like other employees, even when he explicitly asked for equal treatment, and it is possible to infer a racial motivation for his supervisor's different treatment of him and his requests even if none existed. With a colorable case, the chance of a lawsuit go up and, should this go to court, the amount requested as severance may turn out to be considerably less than the cost of simply defending against a discrimination lawsuit, and much less than it would cost if that case ultimately settled or resulted in a loss in court.

The employer should discuss with its lawyer how it might avoid getting itself into this type of situation in the future.