Niwantha, The latter sentence would be correct, though be sure to be mindful of the spelling. It should be: Employees are inquiring about their overtime payments. Great question!

Hi Niwantha, "Enquire" vs "Query" Both words have their similarities and nuances. Similarity: Both can be used as nouns. We can make an "enquiry" or have a "query". Both can be used as verbs as well. We "enquire/enquired" or "query/queried" about something because we require more information. Examples: I sent an email to enquire about their delivery services. The workers were uncomfortable when they were queried. Difference: When we "query" about something, we may also be doubtful of the accuracy of a piece of information and are expressing our skepticism. Back to your sentences, it appears to me that the employees are asking about their pay for the first time at the moment (use of "are enquiring/querying"). It would be unlikely that they doubt an answer which they have not even received yet. I also noticed that your spelling is incorrect. Let's look at the conjugation of both words in their verb forms: Query / Queries (simple past tense)* Queried (simple past tense) Querying (continuous aspect) *replace "y" with "ies" Enquire / Enquires (simple past tense) Enquired (simple past tense) Enquiring (continuous aspect)^ ^simply replace "e" with "ing" There is a similar word "inquire", and it means to demand more information in an official manner. Example: The auditors inquired about the accounting practices of the company. Another example would be the Spanish Inquisition where people were tortured in order to "obtain answers". It can also refer to asking for information in a formal context. Just as a side discussion, we can "inquire after" someone to ask about their health. Hope this helps.

Use of both 'query' and 'enquiring' are valid, but have different connotations and respective syntax. 1. Employees are 'querying' their overtime payments. Here, the employees know about their overtime payments but think the payments may be wrong (or know that they are wrong, so they're questioning their accuracy). 2. Employees are enquiring [no 'e', I don't think there's a single gerund form ending 'eing'] about their overtime payments. And here, they're asking for information about said overtime payments. There's also the 'inquiring' variant as mentioned by Josh, but this spelling is usually used for more formal/high-powered situations (like a government inquiry or legal inquiry or relating to investigations etc. or so it is in British English, I'm not sure about American English).