ORLANDO, Fla. — For several weeks, thousands of people across Florida have struggled in their attempts to get unemployment benefits through the state.

On Friday, some of those people are planning to protest in downtown Orlando. 

The Action Group for COVID-19 plan to demonstrate at 10 a.m. at Lake Eola today in a protest they’re calling Workers Can’t Wait.

But waiting is what many of those unemployment benefit filers have had to do, some for more than two months.

Many unemployed workers said  they’ve spent days trying to just get through on Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity’s website or over the phone.  And some said they’ve never heard anything back.

An unemployed hospitality worker in downtown Orlando said he was able to file a claim, but was denied twice and he was given no reason for that.

He’s been able to go back to a job at a restaurant, but he says business is slow and he’s not making nearly enough to pay the bills.

“I’m making about 10 percent of what I was," said James Detzler. "I can’t pay my rent, I don’t know what I’m going to do, I just don’t know.”

Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s faced criticism for the state’s handling of unemployment claims, has said all along that he inherited a website and system that was not capable of handling the overwhelming amount of claims 

The governor said he's taken steps to try to improve the situation.