The Labor figure Jamie Clements has quit as the New South Wales general secretary after facing mounting pressure over harassment allegations, while insisting he had “done nothing wrong”.

The federal Labor leader, Bill Shorten, the acting state opposition leader, Linda Burney, and the former NSW premier Kristina Keneally were among party figures seeking Clements’s resignation from his key position in the organisational wing.

Clements was signalling as late as Thursday morning that he did not intend to quit, but the pressure grew over the course of the day. In a statement issued late on Thursday, Clements confirmed he had resigned his duties as of 5pm.

“While I have done nothing wrong, I have made this decision in the best interests of the party and my family,” he said.

Stefanie Jones, 27, a Labor staffer, alleged Clements intimidated her and tried to kiss her in an office in Parliament House in June last year. Clements denied the allegations.

Jones applied for an apprehended violence order against him but dropped it on Wednesday when he agreed to stay away from her for the next 12 months and have his parliamentary pass revoked so he could not go into the building unaccompanied.

In an interview in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph published on Thursday, Jones said the alleged harassment took place after she told Clements she was going to reveal their 2013 one-night stand to her fiance, the Labor organiser David Latham.

She also described her treatment by the party over the matter as “disgusting” and “soul-destroying”.

Clements used his resignation statement to reject the claims and appeared to criticise Jones for speaking to the media.

“The version of events reported in media outlets today is completely false,” he said.

“I agreed to undertakings in order to spare the party, my family and all those involved, a difficult and traumatic legal process. Those undertakings were made on a strictly no-admissions basis.



“Throughout this process I have maintained a dignified silence. I am disappointed that others chose not to – instead using the media to pursue their agenda.

“But no individual is bigger than the party – which I have served for 18 years – and I do not want the party to be distracted from its focus of winning the 2016 election.

“I want to thank those within the party, and beyond, who have maintained their support for me and the principles of natural justice. And, in particular, I would like to thank my family.”

The terms of Clements’s resignation are unclear. Guardian Australia has asked Clements whether any payout had been offered or agreed, but he is yet to respond.

Keneally, a Guardian Australia columnist, said the allegations had made Clements’s position untenable and he should be replaced by the assistant general secretary, Kaila Murnain.

Shorten stopped short of publicly demanding Clements’s resignation on Thursday morning but said he had demanded an urgent report from the state party and had “zero tolerance for workplace harassment”.

The pressure on Clements intensified on Thursday afternoon when Burney said he should resign for the good of the party. The NSW deputy Labor leader said she had made the call with the support of the state leader, Luke Foley, who is on leave.