Ms Ardern said Labour’s caucus would meet during this recess week - possibly as early as today - to decide what action to take regarding Dr Sharma.
The caucus has the option of suspending or expelling Dr Sharma from the caucus for bringing the party into disrepute.
Ms Ardern said the caucus would be considering whether Dr Sharma had done that.
She expected Dr Sharma to be at that meeting to put his case.
She would not be drawn on her own view.
Dr Sharma’s chances of escaping a vote appear bleak unless he backs down.
Three senior MPs told The New Zealand Herald his fate would depend on his own actions and ability to convince the caucus he could still be trusted.
One said if Dr Sharma stopped his public allegations and exhibited "humility" it could get him another chance, but his ongoing Facebook posts and public statements made that difficult.
"It’s difficult to see how anyone would have the sort of trust you need in a team with behaviour like that," one said.
Another MP said, "There’s always a way back."
Thus far, no other MP has publicly backed Dr Sharma’s claims - but those MPs spoken to did support Kieran McAnulty, who Dr Sharma accused of bullying him when he was a whip.
Dr Sharma ambushed Labour with another Facebook post yesterday afternoon, repeating claims he was bullied as the party whips dealt with staffing issues in his office, claiming other MPs had also faced it and that the prime minister’s office and Labour had refused to look into his complaints.
The post went up just as Ms Ardern started her weekly post-Cabinet press conference.
Labour’s ruling council has a separate process to investigate and decide whether it should expel Dr Sharma from the wider party.
Labour Party president Claire Szabo and general secretary Rob Salmond both declined to comment.
If expelled, Dr Sharma will remain the MP for Hamilton West unless he resigned from Parliament or the party invokes the provisions of the waka-jumping legislation to try to force him out.
Ms Ardern has confirmed there were several complaints about him by staff, but he had not taken well to attempts to give him more training and management support.
She said she had looked at the handling of Dr Sharma’s case by the whips.
"From what I have seen of the engagements, I have seen interventions that were used because of concerns raised by staff members around Gaurav’s management of his team.
"It is clear there wasn’t always agreement that was necessary by Gaurav, but that doesn’t necessarily constitute what he has characterised as bullying."
At the weekend, Dr Sharma’s Hamilton West electorate committee wrote to the Labour Party and Labour’s caucus in support of Dr Sharma, calling for an independent investigation into the claims he had made.
The letter, with more than 20 signatures, said Dr Sharma would continue to have their "unconditional support" until any such inquiry reported back.
