TORONTO — A long-unnoticed loophole has been letting some public servants skirt the sunshine list, the annual public disclosure of employees at provincially-funded agencies whose salaries top $100,000.

The 1996 Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act only covers T4 income, which means income from lump sum payments, self-employed commissions, fees for services, and pensions are not reported.

The loophole became public knowledge with the appointment of a new Workplace Safety and Insurance Board chair. The outgoing part-time chair, Steve Mahoney, hauled in $129,000 last year, but didn’t make the list. He dodged disclosure because he was paid a daily per diem.

The province doesn’t know how many of its 1.3 million public sector workers may have been evading the list, but opposition MPPs have charged it could be hundreds.

In early May, the government announced it is working on amending the legislation to include all government appointees who make more than the $100,000.

The sunshine list, released at the end of March, recorded 101 employees of the Ministry of Agriculture earning more than $100,000. The full list included 79,000 employees earning more than $100,000. But with the loophole there is no way of knowing how many there really are.