The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday, claiming that the paper unlawfully discriminated against a white male employee who did not get a sought-after promotion.

The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, says that the Times’s “stated race and sex-based representation goals influenced the decision not to advance” the man’s candidacy for a deputy real estate editor role in 2025.

The lawsuit followed a rapid escalation of an investigation that began last year when an employee filed a complaint with the E.E.O.C. in New York, saying he did not get the post because of his race and sex.

The lawsuit indicates that the employee, who is not named, applied for the deputy editor job in 2025. The complaint quotes from Times diversity and inclusion reports and from Slack conversations between newsroom leaders about trends in diversity hiring.

The E.E.O.C. is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws in the workplace. Under the second Trump administration, its Republican chair, Andrea Lucas, has recast the agency as an executor of President Trump’s agenda. She has pressed staff to pursue cases aligned with the administration’s political priorities, including taking aim at diversity programs that she has said discriminate against white men.

This has often been expressed as legal action against institutions that Mr. Trump has identified as hostile, including universities, media organizations and Nike.

After a monthslong investigation of The Times, the E.E.O.C. engaged the company in early April in “conciliation,” a process of voluntary, brokered mediation, a person familiar with the case said.

On April 21, the agency cut off the process and said it was referring the matter for possible legal action, the person said.

The Trump administration has used the regulatory powers of the federal government to hound and, in some cases, extract financial penalties from media organizations it has taken aim at. Last week, regulators ordered a review of station licenses owned by ABC, saying it was prompted by an investigation into the network’s diversity and inclusion policies.