Cesar Melhem is facing potential charges of union corruption but the Victorian MP says he is innocent of all allegations.
Mr Melhem says he won't stand down from parliament after the trade union royal commission's lawyers recommended he be charged for alleged crimes committed while he was state secretary of the Australian Workers Union.
"I am completely innocent of all these charges. It's very important that the process should be allowed to take its course," he told reporters on Tuesday.
Mr Melhem said he was speaking with his lawyers to prepare a comprehensive response by November 20.
"The counsel assisting the commission made it quite clear that no AWU official personally benefited from any of these allegations," he said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the royal commission had to finish its work before a decision could be made on Mr Melhem's future.
"He's a member of my team and he's working hard for the local community that put him into the Victorian parliament," he told 3AW.
"These are serious issues, and he'd be the first one to acknowledge that."
Mr Melhem was stood down from his position as upper house Whip when allegations about his time as a union leader were first aired at the royal commission.
He took the stand in October and defended a 2010 agreement with contractor Cleanevent that paid the AWU $25,000 a year and saved the company $1.5 million in wages.
Commission lawyers recommended the commissioner conclude that Mr Melhem breached Victorian corrupt commission laws over a side deal reached between the AWU and executives of Thiess John Holland, the company that built Victoria's $2.5 billion EastLink motorway.
Mr Melhem defended his record of 23 years with the AWU.
"I stand by my record representing workers," he said.
"There's nothing I'm embarrassed about."
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said Mr Andrews had been quick to call for Liberal MPs to be sacked while in opposition, but appeared to have a different set of rules for his own MPs.
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