finishing up a university project while on H1B

[giannisgeorgiopoulos]

I graduated from a phd program 2 years ago and started working on an h1b visa that the company sponsored. My phd advisor from the university and I have been trying to publish 2 publications from my previous work at the university. I work on this on my spare time ie weekends and evening. My advisor also updates my university email so that I can have an active account for this ongoing project. I work full time for a company and they were not happy when they found out about this specially because I will not put in my publications my affiliation with my new company since my advisor is against it. When I started working for the company in January 2008, I already had finished all the labwork for these publications. But I did do writing and corrections while working for the company. Is it illegal for me to continue to finish up my publications on my spare time?

[kabkaba]

It is certainly illegal to perform other work and it may also be against your company's policies to do so. Try to take it up with your advisor to have company affiliation endorsed on the paper. Try and reach an amicable solution if possible.

[txh1b]

It really depends on if you are getting paid for this work or not. You are okay to work on publications etc on your free time as long as you are not getting paid.

For example, one can register for classes on H1b and complete a degree working on papers, assignments etc. I look at this the same way as long as no monetary compensation is involved.

As far as the intellectual property thing goes, many companies have you sign it as a part of the offer as to who ows the rights to the IP. Check the offer and see if you have signed something to that effect. If not, you and your professor should negotiate with the corporate lawyers about the IP.

[giannisgeorgiopoulos]

clarifications

thank you for your replies

just to clarify: I am not getting paid by the university but I used to get paid when I was a student as a grad student I received a salary.

this is on my free time

but I have signed IP agreements, basically anything I invent belongs to the company

however these inventions were done before starting the new job and if there are any additions, these are done after work

however in my new job, I have increased , my boss has allowed me to run 2 projects as a principal investigator for NIH/NSF grants - I get a bonus plus is very good for my resume

he says that even running the grants requires a lot more than 8 hour days and I need to sometimes work weekends since I am salary to complete the projects

and if I am wasting time working on other projects then that is less time I have on the current projects

[txh1b]

It is your time and how you spend it is your will. You could choose to spend 20 hrs a day on all things that you have to do. Your boss should have no say on what you do after the 8 hours allocated to them. As per DOL regulations, you are scheduled to work for 40 hours on the H1b. Hoever, you may be an exempt employee and any OT forced upon you by the employer cannot be paid.