The E-2 spouse is employment-authorised incident to status and may work, including in the business. Dependent children do not receive that authorisation and cannot work, regardless of the family's ownership of the company.
Ownership does not create permission
Families who own a business often assume that working in it is a private matter, and it is not. The spouse's position is straightforward: employment authorisation comes with E-2 dependent status and is not limited to the family enterprise. The child's position is equally clear in the other direction, and a summer job on a crew is employment whether or not it is paid through the family payroll. Plan for that before a teenager arrives expecting to work. Note too that a child in dependent status ages out at twenty-one, which for a business intended to run for many years is a foreseeable event rather than a surprise. Since E-2 provides no direct route to permanent residence, a family whose long-term intention is to remain should be examining other categories in parallel rather than assuming renewals will substitute.
Hypothetical example: An independent-bookstore investor plans to move with a spouse who will oversee events and a child who wants to finish secondary school. The first review should produce an ownership-and-household chart that keeps business roles separate from derivative eligibility. Marriage and birth records settle the family relationship; ownership and operating documents settle the enterprise facts. A qualifying E-2 spouse may seek employment authorization under the applicable rules, while a child may attend school but does not gain open employment permission as a derivative. Plan the household's income around the business's actual forecast, because E-2 requires a real enterprise whose capacity is more than a minimal family living.