Becoming a manager at a young age is a great opportunity for many people, but it also comes with a variety of challenges.

What would you do if, after getting moved into a management position, one of your older employees was blatantly insubordinate, even after getting several warnings?

That is the situation that the new manager in this story was in, so finally, he had to fire the employee. While most people on his team think he did the right thing, there are still some who are upset.

In my opinion, he gave the guy a lot of chances to improve, and the employee left him with no choice. Read through the story below, and see if you think it was handled properly.

AITA For firing a long-term employee for blatant insubordination

I (34M) was promoted to a mid-level management position at my job after about 4-months ago, with a path towards the executive level.

I have worked at this company for almost a decade and the promotion was given to me after I completed my masters degree.

However, my new position is slightly different than the work I was previously doing for the company, so I am still learning a lot every day and trying my best to catch up to the workers I now supervise.

Why is there always one person in a group who causes trouble?

I will admit there has been a bit of a learning curve for me but for the most part, the people I have working underneath me have been helpful and supportive.

Except for James. James is in his 50s and has been with the company for over 20 years. He is stubborn, thinks he knows the job better than anyone else, is very outspoken, and absolutely hates that a person 20-years younger than him is his new boss.

He is trying to handle the situation privately.

From day one, James has questioned almost every decision I have made. Not in a supportive or helpful way either. He will undermine me and make a point of calling me out in front of other employees.

I admit that he has a wealth of knowledge that I do not yet possess.

I have talked with him privately on a couple occasions about how he has behaved since I became his boss.

Well, it got better for a little while.

I told him that a lot of what he is doing is unacceptable and gave him a written warning after a particularly bad incident where he called me a derogatory name loudly enough that I had multiple other employees tell me about it.

That was maybe 2 months ago and he’s been better since.

But last week he again openly criticized my decision making in front of other employees and refused to go along with my plan because “It’s dumb.”

He was really left with no choice.

So, I called him into my office and fired him on the spot.

He yelled and pointed his finger in my face, so I told him he either quietly leaves, or I have security escort him out of the building and parade him in front of everyone.

He shut up and left, but gave me a few parting words on his way out.

I’m not sure that he even owes the team an explaination.

I tried to address my employees before the rumor mill got too out of hand, and I told them all why I made the decision I did and what I expect of everyone moving forward.

Pretty much all of them agree that I made the right choice, but there are a few older guys who worked with James for a long time that I know don’t agree. I can just tell by the way they interact with me now.

Those people can complain privately, as long as they get their job done and are respectful.

I asked a guy I trust if there has been a lot of talk amongst the workers and he said there’s only a few guys who side with James.

He agrees I did the right thing to remove James’ toxicity from the workplace, but there are a few guys who share some of James’ views on having a younger boss and think I purposely made an example of him.

I think I was pretty tolerant of James, probably for too long. But he was the first person I have ever fired and I’m still questioning myself over it.

AITA?

Honestly, the guy left him no choice. As a new manager, you can’t have someone undermining your every decision. The guy was given plenty of warnings and chances to improve; his job loss is on him.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit think about this difficult situation.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.

Trying to find ways to fix a problem without firing someone is good. But in this case, he was left with no other options.

I agree with this commenter.

This commenter is right. He should not be discussing it with the rest of the team.

Seniority doesn’t mean you’re untouchable.

I hope he worked with HR on this decision.

He was left with no choice in this situation, and he did the right thing. As a manager, hopefully he can learn from what happened and maybe do more to prevent things like this in the future, but sometimes that isn’t an option.

The employee did not like having a younger manager, and he made it clear that he wasn’t going to change. He either needed to be fired or he would quit. Either way, the results are the same.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.