The spouse is employment-authorised incident to L-2 status and may take a job. Children may study but may not work, and dependent status ends at twenty-one.
Spousal employment comes with the status, without a separate grant
An L-2 spouse holds employment authorisation by virtue of that status, so the spouse may accept employment without waiting for a separate permission to be granted, though an employer may want documentary evidence before hiring. Dependent children may enrol in school and appear among the classes permitted to study, but they hold no work authorisation and their status ends at twenty-one. For a household where the second adult works, this is a substantial practical difference from the TN route, and it is worth weighing when a genuine choice of classification exists.
Two dates belong on the same page as the assignment plan: each child's twenty-first birthday, and the point at which the principal reaches the seven-year L-1A maximum. Households that write these down early find the conflicts while there is still time to plan around them.