In late 2005, Rost's lawsuit against Pfizer under the False Claims Act was unsealed (see below) and in December 2005, Pfizer fired him. At Pfizer, Rost had made $600,000 per year for "by his own account, doing essentially no work". Rost filed an unlawful termination suit against Pfizer that was summarily dismissed. The court ruled that the evidence showed Pfizer had decided to fire Rost prior to learning of his whistleblowing activities. According to Pfizer, Rost's public criticism came only after he asked for and was denied a $10M severance package.