Service Contract Customer

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Alabama

I was offered a job with a service contract customer, at the time they were still a service contract customer. My current employer would not let me go. Since then the customer did not renew there service contract. As of March 1 they are no longer a service contract customer. Here is a section of there contract.

PERSONNEL
Client agrees not to hire any "company name". employee for a period of six months following the formal termination of this contract. If Client so elects to hire one of "company name" employees during this period, then the Client agrees to pay "company name". an amount equal to one year’s salary with benefits that was paid the previous year to that employee.

How strong is this, what can I do about it?

This is not an unusual policy for staffing/contracting companies and, in my experience it is enforceable, although one year's salary seems excessive for most positions and salary ranges. But that appears to be the criteria to which they agreed.

Your current company cannot "not let you go". You can resign from the contracting company any time you want, same as they can let you go for any reason (another than an illegal reason) any time they want. That is the "at will employment" concept.

However, if the client company wants to hire you, I feel pretty confident they will have to abide by the agreement. If they are willing to do that, then it looks like you have a new job.