SMAC Process in Spain: Mandatory Labor Conciliation Explained (2026)

The SMAC (Servicio de Mediación, Arbitraje y Conciliación) is the mandatory pre-judicial conciliation step that an employee must attempt before filing most labor claims against an employer in Spain. For international employers operating Spanish subsidiaries, the SMAC is often the first contact with the Spanish labor court system — and one of the most misunderstood. Unlike informal employer-employee mediation in many other jurisdictions, the SMAC is a formal procedure regulated by Law 36/2011 (the Labor Procedure Act, Ley Reguladora de la Jurisdicción Social), with specific deadlines, recorded outcomes, and legal consequences for non-appearance.

This guide explains what the SMAC is, when it is mandatory and when an employee can skip it, what happens during the hearing, what outcomes are possible (and what each one legally means), how the procedure differs across Spanish regions (the equivalent body in some autonomous communities is called CMAC or has a region-specific name), what a foreign-owned company should bring to a SMAC hearing, and how the outcome interacts with subsequent labor court proceedings.

Updated June 2026 — includes regional comparison (Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia, Valencia), and operational playbook for foreign employers.

What is the SMAC process?

Legal basis

The SMAC procedure is regulated by Articles 63 to 73 of Law 36/2011 (Labor Procedure Act). It establishes:

• The mandatory pre-judicial nature of the conciliation step for most labor claims.
• The institutional body responsible (varies by autonomous community).
• The procedural deadlines (typically 15-30 days from the employee’s request).
• The legal effect of attempted, achieved, or failed conciliation.

What body administers SMAC

Despite the common “SMAC” name (used widely in Madrid and historically across Spain), each autonomous community has its own conciliation service, with different names and varying procedures:

When is SMAC mandatory and when can it be skipped?

Mandatory cases

Pre-judicial SMAC conciliation is mandatory for most labor disputes, including:

• Disputed dismissals (improcedente, nulo, procedente classification).
• Salary claims (unpaid wages, bonus disputes, accrued vacation).
• Working condition changes (substantial modification, geographic mobility).
• Working time disputes (overtime, schedules).
• Disciplinary sanctions.
• Non-collective dismissals (individual or plural).

Cases where SMAC is NOT required

Article 64 of Law 36/2011 exempts some claims from prior SMAC, including:

• Collective dismissals (ERE) and other collective procedures (collective bargaining, suspension of contracts, etc.).
• Social Security claims (against INSS, INSALUD, etc.).
• Pension claims and disability disputes.
• Cases against public employers (the State, autonomous communities, local entities) — where alternative pre-judicial mechanisms apply.
• Special procedures: vacation, working time changes individual, election challenges, geographic mobility, and others listed in Article 64.

How the employee initiates SMAC

The employee files a papeleta de conciliación (conciliation request) with the relevant body, including:

• Identification of employee and employer.
• Description of the dispute.
• Amount claimed (if applicable).
• Requested outcome (reinstatement, indemnification, etc.).

From the date of filing, the body schedules a hearing within 15-30 days.

What happens at the SMAC hearing

Who attends

• The employee (in person or with legal representation — lawyer, graduado social, union representative).
• The employer (the legal representative of the company or someone with sufficient written authorisation; in foreign-owned companies, this is often the HR director or an external labor advisor with power of attorney).
• A mediator from the SMAC body — typically a labor lawyer or civil servant trained in conciliation.

Procedural steps in the hearing

1. Identification of parties and verification of legal capacity.
2. Statement of the dispute by the employee.
3. Response by the employer.
4. Conciliation attempt: the mediator proposes solutions and the parties negotiate.
5. Outcome: agreement (avenencia), no agreement (sin avenencia), or attempted without effect (intentada sin efecto) when one party doesn’t appear.
6. Act: signed minutes of the hearing recording the outcome.

Sample timeline (typical individual dismissal dispute)

Possible outcomes — what each one legally means

Acuerdo con avenencia (agreement reached)

The parties reach an agreement on the spot. The agreement is recorded in the minutes and has executive force — equivalent to a court judgment. If the employer doesn’t comply (e.g. doesn’t pay the agreed indemnification), the employee can directly request enforcement before the labor court, without needing a new judgment. Common terms include payment of indemnification, reinstatement, or settlement of accrued amounts.

Sin avenencia (no agreement)

The parties did not reach agreement. The employee is now free to file a formal claim before the labor court within the relevant deadline (typically 20 business days from the original dispute, paused during SMAC). The minutes record the failure to agree but do not bind the court.

Intentada sin efecto (attempted without effect)

One of the parties did not appear at the hearing. Consequences vary:

• Employee absent: the claim is deemed not pursued; the employee can re-file.
• Employer absent: the conciliation is recorded as failed, and the employer may face procedural cost orders in subsequent court proceedings. Some judges interpret unexcused non-appearance as a presumption against the employer’s good faith.

Special outcome — avenencia with reinstatement

In dismissal cases, agreements sometimes include reinstatement of the employee with back pay. This is less common in practice than indemnification settlements but is legally available.

What a foreign employer should bring to a SMAC

A practical checklist for foreign-owned companies attending SMAC for the first time:

1. Identification of legal representative with sufficient power (NIE if non-Spanish; written power of attorney apostilled if from abroad).
2. Complete personnel file of the employee in dispute (contract, payroll, dismissal letter, performance reviews, written warnings if any).
3. Calculation of indemnification at the various dismissal classifications (procedente: zero, improcedente: 33 days/year worked, nulo: reinstatement). Bring numbers worked out in advance.
4. Mandate for settlement: the company representative needs authority to settle. SMAC mediators try hard to close cases on the spot; without settlement authority, the hearing closes “sin avenencia” by default.
5. Local labor advisor or graduado social — they know the local SMAC’s culture and the mediator team.
6. Translator if needed: SMAC proceedings are in Spanish; foreign representatives without working Spanish should bring a translator (court translator preferred, but operational translator usually accepted).

Avoid risks with proper planning

If your company is facing potential disputes, three operational habits dramatically reduce SMAC friction:

1. Document everything: written warnings, performance reviews, instructions, contractual changes. Spanish labor courts heavily weight documentation; verbal exchanges count for little.
2. Use templated dismissal letters reviewed by local counsel: small errors in the letter (date, classification, indemnification calculation) often turn a procedente dismissal into improcedente, doubling the cost.
3. Engage local labor advisory upfront, not when the SMAC summons arrives. Ongoing payroll, contract management and disciplinary advisory prevents 80% of avoidable disputes. See our service of payroll services for international companies in Spain.