Business in brief: No PIN required for small Visa debit buys

Consumers can now use Visa debit cards for smaller purchases without entering a personal identification number, the same way they can skip signing receipts.

Visa said Tuesday it is no longer requiring merchants to treat its debit cards differently when customers use them as PIN-debit cards, as opposed to signature cards.

The move prompted the Justice Department to drop an antitrust investigation of the practice.

Kettle Falls, Wash.

Worker not owed money

Kettle Falls Harvest Foods does not owe unemployment compensation to a worker replaced because he was in jail, a commissioner with the Washington Employment Security Department ruled.

The decision Friday by Donald Westfall III overturns a June finding by an administrative law judge that Mitchell Ross, who was jailed on an outstanding warrant for driving under the influence, was entitled to benefits because his dismissal was not job-related.

Ross knew he might miss work if arrested, said Westfall, who directed the department to calculate what benefits Ross should repay.

Ross can appeal.

New York

Prices for raw materials highest since 1979

The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index of prices manufacturers pay for raw materials hit 91.5 in June, up from 87 in May and the highest reading since 1979.

Its overall index of manufacturing activity was 50.2, barely breaking a four-month contraction streak. Any reading above 50 signals growth.

Manufacturers are “experiencing higher prices for their inputs while demand for their products is slowing,” said Norbert J. Ore, of ISM’s survey committee.

From staff and wire reports