Imposing high costs on an employee who wishes to enforce his or her rights under the law may, depending on the circumstances, render an arbitration agreement unenforceable. It is important for an employee to realize that these costs are at times not obvious. Arbitrators may require a very high fee even for getting involved in the case - sometimes thousands of dollars - in addition to charging an hourly rate for their services. Proof of the costs of arbitration is sometimes hard to come by and is sometimes required by courts to use this ground as a basis to strike down an agreement. No fixed dollar amount is set in law as too high to force an employee to pay. All that can be fairly said in general is that the higher the cost imposed on the employee to engage in arbitration the greater the likelihood that the court will strike the arbitration provision down as unenforceable. The trend is moving in the direction of not enforcing agreements that require employees to incur any costs that are higher than the employee would otherwise have to pay in court.