Facing a weird scenario in H1 RFE and 6 years maxout.

[vabsyuvaan]

Below are my current conditions -
1) I switched from Company A to Company B. Company A's i94 was valid till Dec 31, 2019.    
2) Company B filed H1 on Nov 29, 2019 asking for approval (in that petition) from Nov 29, 2019 till my maxout - June 18, 2020.     
3) Got RFE recently. RFE to be replied by July 18, 2020. Adding 60 days grace period because of Covid makes it Sep 16, 2020.    
4) My i-140 was filed around April 30, 2020. Don't know when it will get approved in normal scenario as PP is closed.      

My questions
1) Can I work beyond maxout date (June 18) as my H1 approval is still pending? If yes, till what date can I work?
2) If I go beyond maxout and get approval in July/Aug, then that approval will be till 18th June (asked in petition) or the date of the approval?
3) Based on my scenario, when should I submit RFE reply?
 

[gopalakrishnach]

I feel since your H1B was applied before your I94 expired you can avail 240 days rule. You can work until 240 days after your I94 expiry. After that you can stay in USA but cannot work until you get response. But in your case you will be maxed out and that creates different issues.

1) I feel you cannot work beyond max out date since your I140 is not approved and even by then your H1B will be approved till max out date.

2) I feel they can give until max out date.

3) ASAP. Your employer will do not you.

[JoeF]

You have to stop working when the max out date is reached.

And you only have a 10-day grace period from the max out date.

[User099]

No, you can't work beyond your max out date even if the petition is pending. Depending on the dates I don't think it even makes sense to reply to the RFE.