I have a friend who works on site at a Building Society for a technical services provider.

He has been told that if his contract is withdrawn he must be offered another position by the new service provider that is taking over on site at the Building Society.

If the Building Society decide NOT to renew the service contract with my friends company, under what general conditions of his employment would he be able to work directly for the Building Society, without his old company suing the Building Society for Poaching their staff or alike.

I have been telling him that usually, contracts of employment for all service providers members of staff always state that if any member of staff leaves to go to work for one of their customers within a set time period after leaving their employment, then that company will take legal action against both the employee and new employer, who was a customer of the service provider.

The Building Societies contact will also stipulate something similar to warn them not to approach staff for to offer them a job.

Please, can someone clear this little spat up so I can email him the link to this page so as to settle it once and for all.