Short duration does not automatically authorize the spouse’s work.
Check the actual status
Qualifying L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence. A pending case, brief visit or unpaid assistance is not itself employment authorization.
Determine whether the spouse's proposed “help” is productive activity that ordinarily belongs to a worker, regardless of pay or duration. With evidence of valid L-2 spouse status, employment is authorized incident to that classification; a visitor, someone with a pending application, or an L-2 child does not inherit the authority. Keep the spouse's work plan separate from the principal's L-1B proof: one continuous foreign year in the preceding three, an active qualifying related organization, and specialized company knowledge. The principal's earlier L periods also count toward the five-year L-1B maximum. The common mistake is assuming a family relationship makes a few operational tasks harmless.
Hypothetical example: an Orford kiln-software integrator will spend two weeks deploying his employer's proprietary controls, and his spouse proposes to enter orders for the affiliate during setup. If she has been admitted with properly documented L-2 spouse status, she may work incident to that status; before then, she should not perform the order-entry role, even unpaid. The company must still prove his foreign service, specialized system knowledge, and its corporate relationship. Her authorization cannot repair weaknesses in his petition, while his approval notice cannot substitute for evidence of her own status.