How to delete photo from project's public folder before updating data in lumen/laravel?

I am trying to delete a photo from my project's public folder before updating another photo. My code looks like this:

if(File::exist( $employee->avatar)){ //$employee->avatar looks /uploads/avatars/1646546082.jpg and it exist in folder File::delete($employee->avatar); }

This is not working in my case. If I comment on this code then another photo-updated without deleting perfectly. How can I solve the issue!